Statement of the North Atlantic Council concerning the
terroristic attacks against the United States of America, 12. September 2001
On September 12th, the North Atlantic Council met again in response to
the appalling attacks perpetrated yesterday against the United States.
The Council agreed that if it is determined that this
attack was directed from abroad against the United States, it shall be regarded as an
action covered by Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which states that an armed attack
against one or more of the Allies in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack
against them all.
The commitment to collective self-defence embodied in the Washington
Treaty was first entered into in circumstances very different from those that exist now,
but it remains no less valid and no less essential today, in a world subject to the
scourge of international terrorism. When the Heads of State and Government of NATO met in
Washington in 1999, they paid tribute to the success of the Alliance in ensuring the
freedom of its members during the Cold War and in making possible a Europe that was whole
and free. But they also recognised the existence of a wide variety of risks to security,
some of them quite unlike those that had called NATO into existence. More specifically,
they condemned terrorism as a serious threat to peace and stability and reaffirmed their
determination to combat it in accordance with their commitments to one another, their
international commitments and national legislation.
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty stipulates that in the event of
attacks falling within its purview, each Ally will assist the Party that has been attacked
by taking such action as it deems necessary. Accordingly, the United States' NATO Allies
stand ready to provide the assistance that may be required as a consequence of these acts
of barbarism.
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