Nato leaders today put behind them bitter rows over Iraq and agreed to train the security forces of the new Baghdad government just hours after it formally took office.
The vaguely worded deal was approved at a summit of the 26 leaders who have spent more than a year rowing over the US-led invasion of Iraq, which was opposed by many European states, including France and Germany.
There were no details in the training deal, reflecting continued disputes over how overt a role the alliance should play in Iraq and a careful attempt to play up harmony in the alliance as it gears to face new security threats.
"A period of distance between Chirac, Schroeder, Blair and Bush is over and a new period of collaboration has begun," declared Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after a dinner in Istanbul yesterday for the Nato leaders.
The alliance also agreed to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan from 6,500 to 10,000 to bolster security during September elections in the violence-torn central Asian country.
Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has cited the alliance's plans to widen its peace mission in Afghanistan as proof that it can project stability far from national borders. But critics say Nato is doing too little, too late.