As we continue to move ahead from the COVID-19 pandemic, NATO’s Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) is at the forefront of the NATO 2030 initiative to ensure the alliance is prepared in strengthening its deterrence and defence capabilities whilst also improving resilience, training and capacity building. Part of this is to provide in-depth analytical research based on DEEP’s own workshops and evaluation of global events in emerging theatres of insecurity such as Afghanistan. Based on the present circumstances, NATO has suspended all areas of cooperation with Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country. Any future Afghan government must adhere to Afghanistan’s international obligations such as safeguarding the human rights of all Afghans, particularly women and children and uphold the rule of law as well as ensuring the country does not serve as a base for transnational terrorists. All these factors are connected to the history of Afghanistan which have also been impacted by the role narcotics has played in destabilising the country. There remains a concern that the Taliban regime may seek to continue to engage in criminal enterprise and especially the proliferation of narco-trafficking that could spread across South and Central Asia and eventually to Europe and North America. This DEEP report, which began before the pandemic, has sought to assess these risks by availing of history-based case studies to help understand the present, as well as assessing the current dynamics that could directly impact on the alliance in the future. Part of the process in this research has required taking a flexible point of view whilst adjusting to the rapidly evolving global threats. This requires being practical but also realistic on what those problems can be and anticipate how that will impact on members of NATO. It is therefore essential to ensure that professional military education is imbued with the practical knowledge and critical thinking that is needed to confront tomorrow’s dangers. Building a creative mindset at all levels of professional military education is important Creative thinking is needed to stay ahead of the proliferation of emerging challenges and ensuring NATO maintains that advantage should always be our primary goal.
The report is available at: https://deepportal.hq.nato.int/eacademy/deep-publications-2/
