Title: NATO 2.0
Description: On September 5, 2009, the commanding officer of NATO's German troops in Afghanistan ordered a U.S. Air Force fighter to destroy two fuel trucks hijacked by the Taliban. Within hours, German prosecutors were investigating him for the murder of innocent civilians--collateral damage. Under German law its forces can only be deployed for peacekeeping; America might be at war in Afghanistan, but Germany is not.

Germany is not the only country that sets strict conditions on its NATO troops. Half of the allied forces in Afghanistan operate under restricted battlefield conditions. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower stormed the beaches of Normandy with an Allied army that followed his every command; in Afghanistan military commanders must consult a checklist to figure out which allied soldiers can be sent into battle.

NATO used to be the world's most formidable military alliance. But its original reason for existence, the Soviet Union, disintegrated years ago, and its dreams of being a world cop are withering in the mountains of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the European Union's crisis-management establishment--Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP)--has organized and deployed twenty-seven successful military/civil missions from Africa to Asia over the last ten years. Through CSDP, Europeans are increasingly taking charge of their own foreign and security policy. NATO is no longer the sole and preeminent Euro-Atlantic security actor. But watching NATO fade into irrelevance would be a mistake, argues Sarwar Kashmeri. It is a tried and true platform to harness the resources of North America and Europe. Kashmeri believes NATO's future usefulness depends on its willingness to accept its reduced role, to let the EU handle the day-to-day security needs of Europe, and to craft a relationship with CSDP.

That will allow North America and Europe to act militarily together, should that ever become necessary. It is time for NATO 2.0, a new version of NATO, to fit the realities of an ever more integrated Europe in the twenty-first century. --Book Jacket.
Subjects: TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Other, Military, Military Science, HISTORY