Less than 24 hours after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, America's allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) came together to invoke the Alliance's Article 5 defense guarantee-this "attack on one" was considered an "attack on all." When it came time to implement that guarantee, however-in the form of the military campaign in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom-NATO was not used. The Americans decided not to ask for a NATO operation for military, political and strategic reasons: only the United States had the right sort of equipment to project military force half way around the world, and Washington did not want political interference from 18 allies in the campaign.
