The effort by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to be sworn in as NATO’s new president this week were almost derailed by Turkey.

Although strongly supported by the United States, France and Germany; the Turkish government has opposed his appointment because of Rasmussen’s handling of the offensive 2006 Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in a private Danish newspaper.

Turkey is one of nation’s most populous states and second only to the United States in military size. Ankara also has troops committed to the war in Afghanistan.

An effort by Turkey to block the appointment would have created an image of disunity at the 60th anniversary conference of NATO. President Obama jumped in, so to speak, to prevent such a scene.

He assured Turkey by telling them that one of Rasmussen’s deputies would be a Turk and that Turkey’s generals would be part of the NATO command.

With that pledge in mind, the Turks backed down and supported the appointment of Rasmussen. And NATO could celebrate its birthday as a united club of nations.

But the real problem of NATO has not been harmony among member states. It is a cohesive organization headed by the United States, and France has recently re-entered NATO’s military structure. The problem is a sense of purpose after the Cold War.

It was here too that Obama was able to come to the rescue. Throughout his European trip, Obama spoke about the urgent need for Europe to also bear the burden of fighting the Taliban and al-Gaeda in Afghanistan. He asked European governments to send more troops and they have duly compiled. France, Great Britain, Germany and many other European nations will send more troops to Afghanistan.

So for now NATO has a new purpose in the fields of Afghanistan.