NATO operations

Our next speaker was a very entertaining British representative who discussed NATO's current operations. He started with a commentary on America. He said NATO might as well stand for Needs America To Operate, but that; "America is a lot like a Labrador Retriever in a China shop. It gets excited and wags it's tail, and China gets broken, but it has a heart of gold." While NATO has in the past changed to cater to American leadership, it's core purpose has remained collective defense. The new and growing threat of terrorism has provided a challenge for NATO, and are attempting to increase their ability to respond to challenges immediately from wherever they may come. There are three different levels of this which NATO sorts these challenges into: Conflict prevention, Crisis management, and Crisis response operations. To be effective in responding to potentially problems that fall into all of these levels simultaneously, NATO must be very efficient in the use of their resources.
Currently, there are 64,000 troops deployed on NATO operations, 59,000 of which are from the 26 NATO nations. There are 17 non-NATO nations contributing reserves to the NATO response force.
There are four missions in which these troops are involved in. First is Operation KFOR, the Kosovo mission. The key goals for KFOR currently are maintaining a safe and secure environment, maintaining the capability for current and future development, and creating a declaration of independence.
The next is Operation Active Endeavor, which I already gave a general idea for.
NATO is taking part in stabilizing Iraq with a training mission. They have troops in Baghdad who's purpose is to provide strategic training and advice to Iraqi military. They also have out of county training and equipping for high level Iraqi military training. They have thus far trained and equipped over 5,000 soldiers.
Last but not least is the mission in Afghanistan. The goal continues to be to create conditions for stabilization, and retain the resources for maintaining stability once it is achieved. The many issues facing the Afghanistan mission include; Afghan capacity, counter-narcotics, insurgents, borders, and Pakistan.
Another interesting aspect of NATO this guy discussed was it's current struggle for a purpose. NATO is an organization, which, generally, has been searching for an identity since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war, and has not found one yet. So, keeping troops deployed has helped keep NATO with a purpose, but one problem facing NATO in the future will be it's ability to stay relevant, and have come up with a useful framework for cooperation with other multi-national institutions like the EU and the UN.

Our last speaker was late, apparently having been held up at lunch with the royal family of the United Arab Emirates. His lecture was about more broad goals, and initiatives taken with the Middle East. NATO is currently attempting to establish ties, and build constructive relationships with governments, academics, and the media in Middle Eastern countries through two major initiatives. The Mediterranean Dialogue is the first, which both Israel and Arab countries are involved in. The Mediterranean Dialogue was opened for countries in the Middle East to discuss security options with NATO and the US. The second is the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) which was launched in 2004. This initiative was developed bilaterally to discuss managing crisis and stability with willing Middle Eastern countries, and to develop a common assessment of clear and present danger in the area.
While we did not get a tour of any high security areas of the NATO headquarters, a long day full of discussions with high-ranking officials provided for a very exciting day.