Events 2009
NATO Enlargement Ten Years on
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that NATO faces not only military threatsbut also the economic crisis.
March 16, 2009
The US Embassy in Prague was proud to support international conference „NATO Enlargement Ten Years On: Achievements, Challenges, Prospects“ which was held in Prague to mark the first enlargement of NATO after the end of the Cold War on March 12-13, 2009.
Speakers at this conference agreed that NATO is the most succesfull Aliance, a champion of freedom and democracy.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, recalling the day ten years ago when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined the NATO in the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, stressed the need to explain young people the concept and the importance of NATO, and what the Alliance stands for. Madelaine Albright recalled the words of the first Czechoslovak president saying "Tomáš Garrique Masaryk believed in freedom as a way of life“.
General Banz John Craddock spoke about the unity as an esential element of NATO and said that all NATO members strive for the Alliance to succede.
Participants of the conference agreed that stable Afghanistan is a vital and legitimate goal of the Aliance’s efforts. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek built his closing remarks on the idea of freedom which he said must prevail in future world.
60 Years of NATO
Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a security alliance of 26 countries - soon to be 28 - from North America and Europe. NATO's fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies' freedom and security by political and military means and NATO enlargement has furthered the U.S. goal of a Europe whole, free, and at peace.
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty -- that an attack against one Ally is an attack against all -- is at the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective defense. Article 4 of the treaty ensures consultations among Allies on security matters of common interest, which after 60 years have expanded from a narrowly defined Soviet threat to the critical mission in Afghanistan, as well as peacekeeping in Kosovo and new threats to security such as cyber attacks, and global threats such as terrorism and piracy that affect the Alliance and its global network of partners.
In addition to its traditional role in the territorial defense of Allied nations, NATO leads the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and has ongoing missions in the Western Balkans, the Mediterranean, and Iraq; it also conducts extensive training exercises and offers security support to partners around the globe, including the European Union in particular but also the United Nations and the African Union.
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