Abstract
NATO’s leaving Afghanistan represents an immediate and discomforting challenge for NATO’s partners. Throughout the ISAF era, partners were able to maintain and increase their standing in relation to the Alliance as such and in strategically important bilateral relationships (such as to the United States) by contributing to Allied operations. Without ISAF, the strategic ‘stock value’ of traditional partnership mechanisms increases abruptly because they not only give access to NATO best practices but also enables the development of long-term security relationships. Professional Military Education is one very promising dimension for increasing traditional partnership cooperation.