In fact, it is all but incomprehensible that while the future of NATO is being decided in the Hindu Kush mountains, and while thousands of European soldiers stationed there are risking their lives, Pakistan – the key to the success or failure of the mission in Afghanistan – is not given any role in NATO’s plans and calculations. Part of NATO’s trouble stems from the fact that a number of member states insist on the right to make their own military and political decisions, and these “national reservations” severely limit NATO’s ability to act.