page_title: Military history of Sweden
section_title: Post-cold war
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Sweden / Post-cold war
caption_attribution_description: English: Swedish forces in Afghanistan.
context_page_description: During the prehistoric times, modern Sweden was divided into provinces and in the Svea and Göta kingdoms. There is said that wars were fought between Svear and Götar and that the former were victors. As the Icelandic sagas tell of many family feuds, one can assume that these were not uncommon in Sweden either, as the structure of the society was similar.
  During the early Middle Ages, many Vikings took recruitment in the fleet and participated both in trade and in plundering raids. The system of Leidang was used to organize the armies in the different parts of the country. In an alliance with the Danes, the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung won the war against the Norwegians at the battle of Svolder.
context_section_description: During the 1990s, the armed forces budget was cut and several regiments were closed down. Several regiment towns have protested against downsizing, and government has tried to prevent rising unemployment by relocating state agencies to these towns.
  The number of enlisted recruits has decreased. The recruits are encouraged to sign up for additional service after their mandatory training is over. The units formed by those who chose to continue their service can be used as rapid response units in international missions, and are also targets of recruiting to the Nordic Battle Group.
  Since the ending of the cold war, and despite a continuing position of neutrality, Sweden has been slowly playing an increased role in international operations, including NATO operations in Kosovo (KFOR) and Afghanistan (the International Security Assistance Force).
  As of 2007-02-11, Swedish soldiers are present in the following countries
  Liberia
  Democratic Republic of the Congo
  Sudan
  Ethiopia
  Eritrea
  Lebanon
  Bosnia
  Kosovo
  Afghanistan
  Kashmir (border between  India and  Pakistan)
  Korea
  Somalia
  Sweden has registered about 15 units in the rapid response unit catalogs of the EU, UN, or NATO. Sweden takes an active part in international exercises such as the Multi National Experiment run by the USJFCOM.
  Sweden is the framework nation for the Nordic Battlegroup, one of the EU Battlegroups that was active during the first half of 2008. This was also repeated during 2011.
  Sweden had command of the battlegroup for the 3d time in 2015, when it was placed in standby during the period of 1st of January - 30th of June. 
  In 2010 Sweden deactivated conscription, only to activate it again in 2017. During the same time, the conscription was made gender-neutral, meaning that both women and men are since called up for obligatory military service .
caption: Swedish soldier in Afghanistan, 2008. The Swedish military contributed to International Security Assistance Force, a NATO-led mission security mission following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
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