NATO, 2014–2024
Year: 2024

The end of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014 coincided with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea. The cost of the Afghan mission manifested itself in NATO’s timid reaction to these events. The Alliance did bolster its collective defence posture in limited ways, but it failed to develop a policy for containing or countering Russia’s political revisionism. Following its initial adaptation to Russia’s seizure of Crimea