But then came the Balkans crises of the 1990s, culminating in the realization that only American military power could put a stop to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. And then came the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, making the “out of area or out of business” choice seem a no-brainer.
当然，北约表现得极有韧性。它本应当在苏联解体、华沙条约组织解散的时候消亡，因为它的使命业已完成。但是九十年代出现了巴尔干危机，最终人们意识到只有美军才能阻止塞尔维亚总统米洛塞维奇对科索沃的种族清洗。随后又发生9/11恐怖袭击事件，使得北约做出“超出地域和任务范围”的选择成为理所当然的事情。所以北约还继续存在，并且存在于阿富汗。