%0 Journal Article
%T NATO¡¯s Afghan partners: between ally and adversary (2003¨C2014)
%A Brattvoll
%A Joakim
%J -
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.23865/intpol.v76.605
%X This article discusses NATO¡¯s relationship with the Afghan authorities and security forces. Although NATO¡¯s involvement in Afghanistan has been widely debated, few have thoroughly analyzed the partnership between NATO and Afghanistan. That is where this article seeks to add value. Applying a discourse analysis to key NATO texts and speeches in the period 2001-2014, it shows the tensions involved in cooperating with an ¡®alien¡¯ partner on the basis of a common threat perception. It finds that in the period 2003-2009, NATO represented its own and its Afghan partners¡¯ values and objectives as ¡®shared¡¯, while at the same time policing the values of these partners. These representations are understood as a tool aimed to transform the Afghan partners into moving towards the liberal standards of the alliance. From 2009, a significant shift in this policy can be noted, as NATO¡¯s responsibility for ¡®assisting¡¯ Afghanistan is outsourced back to the Afghans themselves. The Afghan partners¡¯ refusal to take on board NATO¡¯s values as well as resistance through insider attacks are seen as the main reason for this shift. Finally, it suggests that analyzing the tensions between discursive constructions of ¡®enemy¡¯ and ¡®partner¡¯ showed in this article is worth applying in other cases, such as in current making of alliances in fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq
%U https://tidsskriftet-ip.no/index.php/intpol/article/view/605