Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces

About NATO

Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a security alliance of 31 countries from North America and Europe.
Established in the Cold War as a bulwark against Soviet aggression, NATO’s fundamental goal is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means.
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an attack against one Ally is an attack against all — is at the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective defence.
- Article 5 has been invoked only once in NATO history. It happened after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, which led the alliance into Afghanistan.
A “NATO decision” is the expression of the collective will of all 31 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus.
At present, NATO has 31 members. In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017), North Macedonia (2020) and Finland (2023).
NATO’s Headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium.

Why in News?

NATO has announced the formal suspension of a key Cold War-era security treaty in response to Russia’s pullout from the deal.
The alliance said its members who signed the treaty are now freezing their participation in the pact.
Most of NATO’s 31 allies have signed the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders.
It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later.
Russia’s foreign ministry announced recently that Moscow had finalised its withdrawal.
In response, NATO said, allies who had signed intend to suspend the operation of the CFE Treaty for as long as necessary, in accordance with their rights under international law.

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