Membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
photo: (mojefoto.cz)
On March 12, 1999, the Czech Republic entered the joint security system of NATO, which was intended from the beginning of the 1990s. Prior to its membership, the state achieved athestatus of an associate delegate and joined the Partnership for Peace program.
In November 2002, Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, hosted the NATO summit . During this very important summit, seven new countrieswere officially accepted into the Treaty (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia), and the new serious subject of transformation opened for discussion; due to the increasing global threat of terrorism.
Czech Army units in NATO
The Czech Army quickly and efficiently joined NATO activities all around the world. Czech soldiers are in the Rapid Reaction Forces; they continuously participate in the system of anti-aircraft defense and agreed to accept forces from other nations in the Czech Republic, if necessary.
Currently, some Army units operate in foreign missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan (Operation Constant Freedom) under the NATO command. In Afghanistan, members operate from special units from Prostějov, who fight against the Taliban and members of the Al Qaeda. In Kosovo, the Czech military operates in the KFOR mission for restoring democracy in the region.
The Czech Republic also participates in frequent humanitarian missions.