Afghanistan’s Significance for NATO Strategy

NATO has reaffirmed crisis management as one of its ‘core tasks’, even as it strengthens collective defence amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and specifically refers to the need to learn from Afghanistan. Henrik Larsen argues that NATO needs to face the uncomfortable realities that can explain the failure of its most ambitious and deadliest operation in its history. Given that the Afghanistan experience makes a strong case against crisis management, he argues that NATO should refine its definition: ‘crisis’ synonymous with the prevention of inter-state conflict rather than diffuse threats such as global terrorism; and ‘management’ synonymous with over-the-horizon rather than open-ended operations or the supply of weapons like the case of Ukraine. ◼