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The NATO alliance has been adrift since the end of the Cold War. Even before the crisis sparked by the 2003 Iraq war, the alliance struggled to find a new definition and a new organizing principle. The gradual reduction in transatlantic tension since that crisis offers the opportunity to see what should have been apparent since September 11, 2001: the primary mission of NATO today should be to combat the Islamist extremism that poses a direct and imminent threat to all NATO members. 

The Fundacion Para el Analisis y los Estudios Sociales (FAES), a Madrid-based research institution, has recently proposed a plan of action to revitalize the alliance by gearing it toward the fight against Islamic extremism. Accepting this challenge, however, would likely mean expanding NATO’s membership to give the alliance a more truly global posture.

Is a new NATO the right answer? Can the anticommunist infrastructure of the Cold War be turned now against militant Islam? What are the alternatives for NATO’s future?

On November 16, AEI will host a keynote speech by José María Aznar, president of FAES and former prime minister of Spain. Following this speech will be a panel discussion moderated by Frederick W. Kagan, AEI resident scholar.