ABSTRACT
The world that NATO helped to build after the Cold War is being challenged. On 12 September 2001 what would have been unthinkable during the Cold War comes to pass. The North Atlantic Council (NAC) meets in emergency session to invoke Article 5. Only 15 years before such a decision would have presaged nuclear Armageddon. On 9 October NATO launches Operation Eagle Assist by sending five early-warning Allied World Assurance Co (AWAC) aircraft to monitor the skies over North America. During 1990s NATO is locked in a discussion as to whether the Alliance should provide security and defence only on the territory of its members, or go beyond. On 29 June, at NATO's Istanbul Summit, Alliance heads of state and government agree to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to include several additional provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) and to conclude operations in Bosnia.
