Editing North Atlantic Treaty (section)

===Article 6===

[[File:NATO members (blue).svg|thumb|400px|Current NATO member territory per Article 6]]

Article 6 states that Article 5 covers only member states' territories in Europe, North America, Turkey, and islands in the Atlantic north of the [[Tropic of Cancer]].

A clarification regarding the territories to which Article 5 applies was issued by Article 2 of the Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of Greece and Turkey signed on 22 October 1951.<ref name="p51">{{cite news |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17245.htm |title=Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of Greece and Turkey |access-date=17 March 2024 |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718121435/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17245.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequent expansions, such as to West Germany in 1955, were treated in the same way.<ref name=boeta19>Antoaneta Boeva & Ivan Novotny, [https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol34/iss0/8 Scope and Historical Developments of Article 6, 34 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 121 (2019)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209012539/https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol34/iss0/8/ |date=9 February 2024 }}</ref>

In 1954, following India's [[annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli]], the Portuguese government was precluded from invoking Article 5 due to Article 6, but it was understood at the time that Article 4 could be invoked.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Adams Schmidt |first1=Dana |title=NATO Gives India View on Colonies – Says Lisbon Has Right to Ask Powers to Consult but Not to Act on Threat to Goa |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/09/03/archives/nato-gives-india-view-on-colonies-says-lisbon-has-right-to-ask.html |access-date=20 March 2024 |work=The New York Times|date=3 September 1954 }}</ref>

It was the opinion in August 1965 of the US State Department, the US Defense Department, and the legal division of NATO that an attack on the [[North Pacific]] U.S. island state of [[Hawaii]] would not trigger the treaty, but an attack on the other 49 would.<ref name="hall19650808">{{cite news | url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/clip/27036544/hawaii_lacks_nato_coverage_if_attacked/ | title=Hawaii Lacks NATO Coverage if Attacked | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | date=1965-08-08 | agency=UPI | access-date=2019-01-09 | author=Hall, John | page=4 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}} | archive-date=10 January 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110074034/https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/clip/27036544/hawaii_lacks_nato_coverage_if_attacked/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Aleutian Islands]] in the North Pacific are not treated in the same manner by NATO as Hawaii is, since they are politically part of Alaska rather than their own state like Hawaii.<ref>''Security Order and Strategic Alignment in Europe and the Asia-Pacific: Times of Global Power Shifts''. (2025). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.</ref> The Spanish cities of [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]] on the North African shore are not under NATO protection in spite of [[Greater Morocco|Moroccan claims to them]]. Legal experts have interpreted that other articles could cover the Spanish North African cities but this take has not been tested in practice.<ref name="Newtral">{{cite web |title=¿Están Ceuta y Melilla bajo el paraguas de la OTAN? |url=https://www.newtral.es/ceuta-melilla-otan-expertos/20211002/ |website=Newtral |access-date=25 February 2022 |language=es |date=2 October 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225093228/https://www.newtral.es/ceuta-melilla-otan-expertos/20211002/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This is also why events such as [[2020 Balyun airstrikes|the Balyun airstrikes]] did not trigger Article 5, as the Turkish troops that were attacked were in Syria, not Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/turkeys-troubles-idlib-does-article-5-north-atlantic-treaty-hold-answer|title=Turkey's Troubles in Idlib: Does Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Hold the Answer?|date=2020-03-20|access-date=2022-03-01|archive-date=13 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113122729/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/turkeys-troubles-idlib-does-article-5-north-atlantic-treaty-hold-answer|url-status=live}}</ref> As well as why the [[1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands]] by [[Argentina]] did not trigger Article 5, as the [[Falkland Islands]] are in the [[South Atlantic]], south of the Tropic of Cancer, and not within the geographic area covered by Article 6.

On 16 April 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the [[International Security Assistance Force]] (ISAF) in [[Afghanistan]], which includes troops from 42 countries. The decision came at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two states leading ISAF at the time of the agreement, and all nineteen NATO ambassadors approved it unanimously. The handover of control to NATO took place on 11 August, and marked the first time in NATO's history that it took charge of a mission outside of the area delineated by Article 6.<ref>David P. Auerswald, and Stephen M. Saideman, eds. ''NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone'' (Princeton U.P., 2014)</ref>