Abstract
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been in Afghanistan since August 2003 to command the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was created on December 20, 2001, by Security Council Resolution 1386 of the United Nations, in accordance with the Bonn Agreement. ISAF has become NATO's biggest priority, but it is a tough mission, as Afghanistan has always remained a very particular state. In fact, during the last two centuries, Afghanistan has always opposed with a strong determination to any military intervention on its territory. This reputation has been dramatically shown by the British experience in the nineteenth century, and even more by the Soviet one in the twentieth century.
Since 1978 and the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan is known only for war, violence, with a population which is permanently waiting for a minimum security. The country has a fragile and unequal economy with a very fragmented social and political structure. From the beginning, this mission was very important in international relations, because Afghanistan was suspected of helping terrorists groups, especially Al-Qaeda, held responsible for the 9/11 attack.
Talibans gained power in Afghanistan in 1996 and it became the ideal place for combatants who wanted to practice a fundamental Islam, train themselves and plan for potential actions. Then, the Talibans found an interlocutor in the name of Bin Laden, the main leader of "the Base", Al-Qaeda. So there was an undisputable link between Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan. Thus, after 9/11, the Taliban regime's future was sealed when Al-Qaeda's responsibility was established. Afghanistan refused to help the United States and deliver the culprits, so the country was invaded and occupied by the US and the Taliban regime was knocked down.
Then, the United States have been helped by the United Nations forces and NATO, in order to give military and political support to the new regime. But from 2003, the international community's attention has turned towards Iraq, the second front of the "Global War On Terrorism" (GWOT). Gradually, the Talibans, Al-Qaeda and other military factions opposed to Kabul's government and President Hamid Karzai strengthened their pressure. They are not based in Afghanistan anymore, but mainly in Pakistan, a nuclear power, which is also supposed to be the United States' main ally in this region, is a paradoxical and delicate situation.
