The Czech Republic in NATO: Five years on

This Friday is the 5th anniversary of the expansion of NATO that brought former Warsaw Pact countries Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic into the organisation's fold. Just two weeks later NATO launched its first ever military offensive - against Yugoslavia, an event that deeply divided Czech public opinion. 9/11 was a further shock to the alliance and it has yet to fully define its new role in international security. This report on how the Czech Republic's place within the alliance has changed since 1999.

The Czech Republic in NATO: Five years on

Anti-chemical brigade in Liberec, photo: CTK

NATO has had to redefine itself to face a global terrorist threat, and within NATO the Czech Republic has adjusted to meet the needs of the alliance with a more prominent role than might have been expected five years ago. Miroslav Mares is a professor of Political Science at Brno's Masaryk University:

"The Czech Republic fulfilled a series of commitments upon joining NATO and has brought military and security structures in line with the alliance, tailored to what other members require. NATO is creating mobile units able to respond to terrorism 'out of the arena' - that means outside the North Atlantic zone. The Czechs have been taking part in international missions and will now take part in its most difficult mission on the 'front-lines' in Afghanistan."

The Afghanistan mission, which will see Czech troops take part in the U.S.-led operation Enduring Freedom to help root-out remaining Taliban or al Qaeda operatives will give the Czech Republic a higher profile while putting Czech soldiers in the hot zone. Meanwhile this kind of participation could make the Czech Republic itself a terrorist target. Miroslav Mares thinks the Czech Republic is at low risk. But, he suggests, vigilance is necessary just the same:

"Domestic security forces of course are doing everything in their power to prevent any kind of attack. But, as I have mentioned before the Czech Republic has been named along with other U.S. allies, by representatives of Islamic terror behind the Jihad."

NATO is on the verge of further major changes. In less than a month it is to undergo its second big expansion. Among the seven countries joining will be Romania, Slovenia and the Czechs' former compatriots - Slovakia. This will lead to even closer Czech-Slovak military cooperation, of the kind seen in Iraq last year. Both countries have specialist anti-chemical units, which have been proven to work well together.