As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) undergoes its boldest transformation, seeking a new role on the global stage has haunted the world's biggest military alliance for the passing year.
SCHROEDER'S CALL
Perhaps nobody would quarrel about NATO's role during the Cold War. Its mission was to shield Western Europe from the Soviet Union and its partners.
However, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO immediately lost its archrival and it seemed that no one in the world would pose military threat to Europe again. Just as NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer put it recently: "A large-scale invasion of our territory is no longer our dominant concern."
Starting from the 1990s, debates on NATO's new missions have intensified, and the alliance has undergone transformations to adapt itself to the changing world.
On Feb. 12 this year, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent a letter to the annual Munich security conference, arguing that NATO, created 55 years ago, "is no longer the primary venue where transatlantic partners discuss and coordinate strategies."
Schroeder's call triggered widespread debates on NATO's role and touched off fierce opposition from the United States.
US President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld came out strongly against the idea, stressing that NATO is "clearly" the place to discuss transatlantic issues.
"The US position is that NATO is a vital institution," Bush said before he traveled to Europe for a NATO summit on Feb. 22.
NATO BUSY SEARCHING FOR JOBS
Amid the debates over its role during the passing year, NATO has been busy finding new jobs for fear of being "laid off."
It expanded the operations of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. In early 2005, it signed a transit agreement with Georgia, allowing NATO military planes to fly a short-cut route from Europe to Afghanistan.
NATO also offered logistical assistance to the African Union (AU) for its mission in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. Support included air deliveries, intelligence exchanges and personnel training.
This is the first time NATO has sent military planes to Africa, although they were kept away from direct military involvement following opposition from the AU.
However, this action also raised suspicions within NATO.
At a NATO forum in Are, Sweden in May, a number of officials and scholars from NATO members and partnership countries complained that it had extended its reach too far.
"Maybe NATO has no job to do, so it tries to find a job," a participant to the forum joked.
In 2005, NATO started the training programs for Iraq's security forces, but some members like France and Belgium refused to participate.
Apart from the military operations, NATO started to flex its muscle in the field of international humanitarian assistance.
In September, when the United States was hit by Hurricane Katrina, NATO responded by helping deliver food, medical supplies and equipment.
In October, when Pakistan asked for help following a devastating earthquake in the north of the country, NATO conducted a three-month assistance operation there. NATO sent a battalion of engineers to help clear roads and set up facilities, and made hundreds of flights to ferry relief goods, constituting the largest single contribution to the relief airlift.
UKRAINE'S MEMBERSHIP
Despite the fact that NATO is yet to establish its new role, it still aspires to expand its borders, with the Ukraine being firmly in its sights for next round of enlargement.
In November last year, the so-called "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, which borders Russia in the east and northeast, triggered NATO's interest in the country. Its President Victor Yushchenko pledged during his election campaign that he would take the country into the alliance and the European Union (EU).
The EU was cautious about further enlargement and rejected Yushchenko's call, but NATO, which has long viewed Russia as a potential rival, welcomes his gesture.
A series of diplomatic activities and military exercises have been conducted for the year to allure Ukraine towards the membership, though NATO maintained that its accession was "performance-based."
In July, NATO and Ukraine staged the "Peace shield-2000" multinational NATO exercise, the biggest joint military drill ever staged in the country since its independence.
In February, President Bush invited Yushchenko to attend the NATO summit in Brussels, and NATO Secretary-General Scheffer led ambassadors of all NATO members to visit Ukraine and to see with their own eyes the country's military reforms.
In addition, Ukraine's accession has been a major topic at various NATO ministerial meetings and forums over the year.
Russia is of course furious at NATO's further expansion of its borders.
In November, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov warned that his country could halt military cooperation with Ukraine if it joins NATO.
Analysts said whatever stance Russia takes, it is an irreversible trend that Ukraine will embrace NATO.
Over the year, NATO has repeatedly pledged that the "door remains open" for Ukraine, though a timetable for joining is yet to be set.
NATO'S TECHNICAL TRANSFORMATION
Although NATO has not yet settled the issue of its strategic role, the technical aspect of its transformation is well under way.
At February's summit, NATO leaders reaffirmed its commitment to reforms and better cooperation with other organizations like the United Nations and the EU.
Scheffer later produced a detailed report aiming to create a "New NATO," which can better meet the challenges of "international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and regional conflicts."
Scheffer listed five aspects of transformation as: an increase in its quick response capacity; improved long-distance deployment capabilities; sustainability over an extended period of time; cooperation with other international organizations; and an extension of NATO's geopolitical dimension.
However, the technical transformation alone can not resolve everything. Just as Scheffer put it: "Today, NATO is no longer a solo-player in security, ... cultivating political dialogue will be the crown jewel in NATO's transformation."