An updated version of the Congressional Research Service's report 'NATO in Afghanistan: A Test of the Transatlantic Alliance' has been released:
"This report follows the path of NATO’s evolution in Afghanistan. The first section covers the initial two stages of ISAF’s mission, and analyzes key issues in the mission: use of Provincial Reconstruction Teams to stabilize and rebuild the country; overcoming caveats placed by individual allies on the use of their forces; and managing the counter-narcotics effort. The next section of the report examines the debate to develop a refined mission statement and a new organizational structure for Stage Three by analyzing issues that are both political and military, such as securing more troops, the treatment of prisoners, and organization of command; it covers roughly the period December 2005-fall 2006. By spring 2006, the allies began to realize that Stage Three would require a greater combat capability than originally believed, and the mission began to change. This adjustment in mission is the subject of the next section of the report, which discusses Stage Three and overall ISAF operations beginning in July 2006 through the perspective of several key allies. The next section discusses Stage Four, in which ISAF has assumed control of the entire country. The final section of the report assesses ISAF’s progress to date."
