The United States Permanent Representative to NATO, Scott Oudkirk, assured today that the mutual security commitment among Allies "remains and endures," ensuring that Washington will continue to "defend the freedoms" that unite the Atlantic Alliance.
The declaration was made at a ceremony held at NATO headquarters in Brussels, marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Scott Oudkirk stated that, on the day of the attacks, "the free world, and in particular NATO's Allies, stood by the United States," referring to the first activation of the collective defense clause of the Washington Treaty, invoked for the first time in the Alliance's history.
The ceremony thus served to reaffirm the transatlantic bonds between NATO member countries, at a moment of reflection on the attack that led the allies to honor for the first time the mutual defense commitment provided for in Article 5 of the Alliance's founding treaty.
