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ISAF was created in accordance with the Bonn Conference, in December 2001, after the ousting of the Taliban regime. Afghan opposition leaders attending the conference began the process of reconstructing their country by setting up a new government structure, namely the Afghan Transitional Authority.
The concept of an UN-mandated international force to assist the newly established Afghan Transitional Authority was also launched to create a secure environment in and around Kabul and support the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
These agreements paved the way for the creation of a three-way partnership between the Afghan Transitional Authority, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and ISAF.
ISAF is not a UN force, but is a coalition of the willing deployed under the authority of the UN Security Council (eight UNSC Resolutions - 1386, 1413, 1444, 1510, 1563, 1623, 1659 and 1707 - relate to ISAF). A detailed Military Technical Agreement between the ISAF Commander and the Afghan Transitional Authority provides additional guidance for ISAF operations.
Initially, individual nations volunteered to lead the ISAF mission every six months. The first ISAF mission was run by the United Kingdom. Turkey then assumed the lead of the second ISAF mission. The third ISAF mission, as of February 2003, was led by Germany and the Netherlands with support from NATO.
Since 11 August 2003, ISAF is supported and led by NATO, and financed by the troop-contributing countries. The Alliance is responsible for the command, coordination and planning of the force. This includes providing a force commander and headquarters on the ground in Afghanistan.
NATO's role in assuming the leadership of ISAF in August 2003 overcame the problem of a continual search to find new nations to lead the mission and the difficulties of setting up a new headquarters every six months in a complex environment. A continuing NATO headquarters also enables small countries, which find it difficult to act as lead nations, to play a strong role within a multinational headquarters.
In November 2003, NATO appointed Minister Hikmet Çetin, of Turkey, to the post of Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan. In August 2006, Minister Çetin was succeeded by Ambassador Daan Everts, from the Netherlands. The Senior Civilian Representative is responsible for advancing the political-military aspects of the Alliance's engagement in Afghanistan and receives his guidance from the North Atlantic Council. He works in close co-ordination with the ISAF Commander and the United Nations as well as with the Afghan authorities and other representatives of the international community present in the country, such as the European Union.
ISAF’s mandate was initially limited to providing security in and around Kabul. In October 2003, the United Nations extended ISAF's mandate to cover the whole of Afghanistan (UNSCR 1510), paving the way for an expansion of the mission.
Stage 1: to the north
In December 2003, the North Atlantic Council, NATO's principal decision-making body, authorised the Supreme Allied Commander, General James Jones, to initiate the expansion of ISAF by taking over command of the German-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kunduz.
PRTs are small teams of civilian and military personnel working in Afghanistan's provinces to provide security for aid workers and help reconstruction work. They are key in supporting the three pillars of the Bonn Agreement: security, reconstruction and political stability. In 2003, apart from the Kunduz PRT, there were eight other PRTs under the command of Operation Enduring Freedom, the continuing US-led military operation against terrorist targets in Afghanistan.
On 31 December 2003, the military component of the Kunduz PRT was placed under ISAF command as a pilot project and first step in the expansion of the mission.
Six months later, on 28 June 2004, at the Summit meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in Istanbul, NATO announced that it would establish four other provincial reconstruction teams in the north of the country: in Mazar-e-Sharif, Meymana, Feyzabad and Baghlan.
NATO's area of operations in Afghanistan (map)
This process was completed on 1 October 2004, marking the completion of the first phase of ISAF's expansion. ISAF's area of operations now covered some 3,600 square kilometres in and around Kabul and approximately 185,000 square kilometres in the north and the mission was able to influence security in nine northern provinces of the country.
Stage 2: to the west
On 10 February 2005, NATO announced that ISAF would be further expanded, into the west of Afghanistan.
This process began on 31 May 2005, when ISAF took on command of two additional Provincial Reconstruction Teams, in the provinces of Herat and Farah and of a Forward Support Base (a logistics hub) in Herat.
At the beginning of September, two further ISAF-led PRTs in the West became operational, one in Chagcharan, capital of Ghor province, and one in Qal’eh-Now, capital of Baghdis province, completing ISAF’s expansion into the west.
The extended ISAF mission now led a total of nine PRTs, in the north and west, providing security assistance in 50% of Afghanistan’s territory. The Alliance continued to make preparations to further expand ISAF, to the south of the country.
In September 2005, the Alliance also temporarily deployed 2,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to support the 18 September provincial and parliamentary elections.
Stage 3: to the south
On 8 December 2005, meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Allied Foreign Ministers endorsed a plan that paved the way for an expanded ISAF role and presence in Afghanistan.
The first element of this plan was the expansion of ISAF to the south in 2006, also known as Stage 3.
This was implemented on 31 July 2006, when ISAF assumed command of the southern region of Afghanistan from US-led Coalition forces, expanding its area of operations to cover an additional six provinces - Day Kundi, Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan and Zabul - and taking on command of four additional Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
The expanded ISAF now led a total of 13 Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the north, west and south, covering some three-quarters of Afghanistan's territory.
The number of ISAF forces in the country also increased significantly, from about 10 000 prior to the expansion to about 20 000 after.
Stage 4: ISAF expands to east, takes reponsibility for entire country
On 5 October 2006, ISAF implemented the final stage of its expansion, by taking on command of the international military forces in eastern Afghanistan from the US-led Coalition.
The Alliance's mission now covers the whole of Afghanistan. NATO is leading some 30,000 troops from 37 countries and 25 Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
In addition to expanding the Alliance's area of operations, the revised operational plan also paved the way for a greater ISAF role in the country. This includes the deployment of ISAF operational mentoring and liaison teams to Afghan National Army units at various levels of command. These are small groups of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers that will coach and mentor the Afghan National Army units to which they are attached.
