NATO Official Visits Harris School
March 29, 2012
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Assistant Secretary General of Public Diplomacy at NATO, spoke to students at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy on Wednesday, March 28, highlighting the agenda for the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago in May. Grabar-Kitarovic, who was visiting Chicago in preparation for the Summit, spoke of the importance of the Chicago Summit and NATO's changing role as it faces evolving security concerns worldwide.
Grabar-Kitarovic outlined four key elements of the agenda for the Chicago Summit, including: "smart defense," missile defense; NATO's ongoing role in Afghanistan; and international relationships. Although the media tends to focus on public protests, she said, she expressed hope that the Summit's message, "NATO Delivers," will resonate with observers, both in Chicago and worldwide.
Speaking at length about NATO's activity in Afghanistan, Grabar-Kitarovic emphasized that despite recent tragic events highlighted in the media – including NATO soldiers who burned the Koran – a great deal of progress is taking place in the nation. She pointed to the over 8 million Afghan children now attending school and the falling infant mortality rate as evidence of the nation's development. She stated that it is NATO's responsibility to provide sustained assistance in Afghanistan to ensure that progress continues, even after the withdrawal of military troops in 2014, by offering support in areas like institution-building and anti-corruption measures.
Grabar-Kitarovic also discussed NATO's evolving role in the 21st century. As many nations — including the U.S. – aim to downsize their military budgets, the Summit will focus on building a "leaner NATO" and emphasize cost-effective methods that emphasize the prevention, rather than the resolution, of conflict. At the same time, she explained that the kinds of security concerns member nations face today are much different than the concerns nations faced in the past. Nations now confront fluid threats that are hard to pinpoint, such as terrorism, human trafficking and cyber-attacks. Such threats are difficult for a single nation to combat alone, she said, and reinforce the need for collective defense.
The Assistant Secretary General answered several questions from students, including inquiries about NATO's recent mission in Libya. NATO's role was misperceived as a mission to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power, she said. In reality, NATO's intent was to defend Libyan citizens from attacks by Libyan military forces. "The political process is up to the people of Libya," she said, noting that NATO forces withdrew from Libya once the provisional government was in place.
Throughout her talk with students, Grabar-Kitarovic stressed the relevance of NATO and the upcoming Summit in Chicago. She emphasized that the NATO Summit not only offers a unique opportunity for University of Chicago students and the Chicago community to learn about NATO, but also promotes the City of Chicago in the international sphere. "The world will gather here in Chicago, and the eyes of the world will be on Chicago," she said.
- Louise McLarnan
