ABSTRACT
Noticeably, NATO’s reaction towards the events of 9/11 was rapid. The Alliance responded swiftly, in a manner that embodied the solidarity of the allies and, at the same time, its vitality and necessity in this new and undefined era. This was crystallised in the declaration, made on the day following the attacks, the first in the Alliance’s history, about the readiness of NATO to invoke Article 5, which states that:
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.2
