The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been involved in active peacekeeping missions since 1994, and coordinates with United Nations peacekeeping operations and directives.
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The Former Yugoslavia
The first NATO peacekeeping mission has its roots on February 28, 1994, when the organization authorized U.S. fighters to fire on Serbian planes violating the no-fly zone over the former Yugoslavia. Previously, NATO had limited itself to solving conflicts within its member states; this operation marked a shift as the alliance worked to keep the peace in regions of Eastern Europe, which was considered to be an "out-of-area deployment." In December 1995, NATO sent an unprecedented 60,000 troops to ensure that all sides would abide by the Dayton accords, which was replaced by a smaller force of 32,000 troops a year later.
Under a UN mandate, a NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) entered Bosnia in order to implement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was succeeded by SFOR. In a similar manner, a NATO operation (Kosovo Force, or KFOR) continues in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
The NATO-led mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina has since been replaced by a European Union peacekeeping mission, EUFOR Althea.
Current operations
NATO currently has operations underway in Afghanistan, previously with the International Security Assistance Force, and from January 2015 with the Resolute Support Mission.