Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump during a news conference at the construction site of the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Building in Washington, March 21, 2016. Reuters/Jim Bourg Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has again stirred the pot by dismissing NATO as "obsolete."

Trump has contended that the 28-nation military alliance needs to be radically rethought and framed away from its Cold War structure toward an organization more capable of fighting threats like ISIS.

This argument ignores the multiple operations that NATO has conducted to bring stability to Europe after the Cold War and also in the fight against terrorism.

Below, we have explained why NATO continue to be important and how its global reach is as important as ever for both Europe and the wider world.