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NATO Needs to Reform into a Global Alliance Against Islamic Terrorism

(Telegraph-UK) Rafael Bardaji and Richard Kemp - The Atlantic Alliance was indeed instrumental in deterring the USSR and keeping the European continent in peace, with America providing leadership, taking a big portion of the economic burden, and being willing to station hundreds of thousands of GIs in Europe. In the early '90s, with the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, NATO acted as a multinational body to enforce peace among rivals and contenders. Thus, in 1995, allied forces bombed Serbian forces to force the Dayton agreement and put an end to the war over Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1999 they mounted a bombing campaign to guarantee the independence of Kosovo. After the dramatic attacks of 9/11, NATO activated, for the first time in its history, Article 5, the clause that determines an attack against one member is an attack against all. Unfortunately, there were no capabilities to really help the U.S. in such a far place from Europe as Afghanistan. NATO should accept that we are all under attack by Islamist extremist forces of all kinds and make the fight against Islamic terrorism its core mission. In order to reinforce our Western world, NATO must invite to become members, countries that are alike in the defense of our values and with the willingness to share the burden in this struggle. NATO should invite without delay Israel, Japan, Singapore and India to become members. Mr. Bardaji is the Executive Director of the Friends of Israel Initiative and the former National Security Adviser to the Spanish government. Colonel Kemp is a board member of the Friends of Israel Initiative and the former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan.
2017-02-17 00:00:00
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