NATO Operations

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO (/ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.

Although NATO was present throughout the Cold War as the opposite to the Warsaw Pact, joint military exercises were practised but no military operations took place. This came after the Cold War when NATO's influence in a post-Cold War rose to prominence in Bosnia where NATO gradually stepped up their efforts to end the trouble. This culminated with NATO's first air campaign in 1995 which targeted the Army of Republika Srpska whose presence in Bosnia posed a danger to United Nations "safe areas" and ultimately the bombing helped to bring about the Dayton Accords.

The organization now plays a prominent role in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks in the United States invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty which deemed the attacks to be an external attack on all NATO members under the idea of collective defence. Aside from continuing efforts in Afghanistan NATO has participated in a wide range of roles including relief effort, counter-piracy, enforcing no-fly zones and naval blockades.

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