Cultural awareness of military troops participating in international operations : between domestic policy and NATO agenda

The importance of military’s cultural and religious awareness on the international operations was increasingly recognized after the Cold war. Though, a need of military cultural awareness is usually assessed at the national state – not the NATO – level. The absence of military cultural awareness standardization during the international operations within NATO allows member states to interpret cultural awareness individually. The freedom of cultural interpretation is not an undesirable thing per se but the lack of coordinated military leadership, especially when soldiers are working in the international composition. It may lead to further deficiencies and promote such problems as “green-on-blue” attacks in Afghanistan, which can be associated with cultural differences arising from solders direct interaction with other culture