Four years ago today - on March 12 of 1999 - three former communist bloc countries, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, became fully fledged members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For Czechs this was a landmark event that cemented the country's return to the free world.
NATO
After the fall of the Iron Curtain the country sought to find its rightful place in Europe - a position that would both provide security and allow Czechs to take an active part in molding European and world events. When the Czech Republic joined the alliance, ten years after regaining its freedom, the occasion was celebrated with fireworks. The three newcomers pledged to take on the responsibilities of NATO membership, alongside the advantages that it would provide. Almost immediately they went through a trial by fire. Less than two months after its enlargement, NATO intervened in the Yugoslav crisis and, under Vaclav Havel's presidency, the Czech Republic took an active part in the KFOR, IFOR and SFOR missions in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
At the time, NATO found itself in a radically new position. With the fall of the bi-polar security structure and the alliance's planned expansion eastward it needed to define its new role and consider a viable working mechanism for the future. The Yugoslav crisis underscored the alliance's peace-keeping role and in 2001 the September 11th terrorist attacks on US targets brought another big challenge - the need to fight international terrorism.
Prague NATO Summit
The Czech Republic maintained an active role, sending a field hospital to Afghanistan and its chemical defense unit, which had acquired an excellent reputation in operation Desert Storm during the Kuwaiti crisis in 1990, back to Kuwait, in preparation for a possible war with Iraq. In November of 2002 Prague hosted a groundbreaking NATO summit - the first ever to take place in a former communist country. Seven east European candidates were invited to join the alliance - including Slovakia whom the Czech Republic actively supported in its ambition to join NATO after the break up of Czechoslovakia in 1993 - and structural changes were planned which would enable the alliance to face the challenges that lie ahead. Four years on, the Czech Republic is working on reforming its armed forces, it is shouldering responsibilities abroad and has a clear idea regarding what NATO membership entails. Jan Vana is head of the army's department for strategic planning.
"It is like the credo of the three musketeers. You do not need to speak about it but you know that this is the bottom line. Whenever the interests of the alliance are threatened you must be ready to be there. And it is better to protect the interests of the alliance outside of NATO territory. So prevention is the key word".
