Founded at the start of the Cold War, NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – is the world’s largest collective defence grouping, with 32 members in Europe and North America.
How many departments?
NATO’s military forces are drawn from its member nations, and are placed under a unified allied command when a mission is undertaken.
The U.S. military is by far the largest contingent. There are about 79,000 American servicemen and women stationed in Europe, more than 48,000 of them in Germany, according to the Pentagon.
The only military equipment NATO has is a fleet of sensor-equipped AWACS aircraft and drones.
Sweden became its newest member in March, increasing the number of its potential troops by 50,000 – about half of whom are reserve troops – to over three million according to several specialized institutions.
Brussels Headquarters
NATO was created by the Washington Treaty signed on April 4, 1949. Its mission at the time was to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union and to reaffirm the principle of mutual defense of its members.
At the Madrid summit following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the alliance adopted a new strategic concept, describing Russia as “the most serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security”.
Its 12 founding nations (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States) were joined in subsequent years by other countries, including Sweden.
NATO’s first headquarters were in London, then moved to Paris, and then to Brussels in 1966, where it remains today. Its SHAPE military command is in Mons, Belgium.
The coalition has been headed by former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, 65, since 2014. His term runs until the end of October this year – when he will be replaced by 57-year-old Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
NATO’s main decision-making body is the North Atlantic Council.
Article 5
The core of NATO is Article 5 of its founding treaty, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all members.
To date it has been used only once: in 2001, a day after the September 11 attacks, to show allies’ support for the United States.
NATO has conducted many missions in its history, including one in Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. That operation ended in September 2021 with the hasty withdrawal of the 10,000 personnel deployed at the time.
NATO is present in Iraq and especially in Kosovo, where the KFOR stabilization force, sent from 27 countries, has 4,500 troops.
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