Europe, Afghanistan and the Transatlantic Relationship after 2014

As the December 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan approaches, it is already clear that NATO's future footprint in the country will be markedly smaller. This report explores the importance of ISAF to the alliance between Europe and the United States. The author argues that, as Europe ponders its post-2014 role in Afghanistan, it is imperative that it considers its future role as a global actor within the context of the transatlantic relationship.

This paper is published under the Wider Central Asia Initiative, a two-year SIPRI project to promote and facilitate dialogue among the main external stakeholders in Afghanistan's future. The initiative is funded by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.