The operation in Afghanistan threatens to overburden the Atlantic alliance. In the face of a complex and growing Afghan insurgency movement, the world's most powerful military alliance struggles to maintain political unity and displays significant gaps regarding military capabilities. Will Afghanistan become NATO's 'Vietnam', leaving a deep negative imprint on the future of the Atlantic alliance? Historical analogies should always be treated cautiously as no two wars are alike. Yet, as this article argues, NATO might well suffer similar politico-military consequences from trying to succeed in counter-insurgency as did US forces in Southeast Asia. Particularly, political issues of legitimacy and sustainability loom large. Further, in the case of 'defeat' at the Hindu Kush the Afghan operation will likely have a significant impact on NATO's future as an international security actor. While failure in Afghanistan will not result in the Atlantic alliances' demise, failure will nevertheless decrease the credibility of NATO as a global security actor and greatly diminish its capability for strategy-making. In the eyes of many allies, the demonstration of severe political and military limits when endeavouring to succeed in a complex contested nation-building scenario will greatly diminish NATO's utility as a Western instrument to project stability far beyond its traditional theatres of operations.
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