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Members of the Dutch, French and U.S. military watch as an Italian honour guard hoists the new Stabilisation Force flag during the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) activation ceremony in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the 20 of December 1996.

Pocket badge of the SFOR.

The Stabilisation Force (SFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the previous force IFOR.

The SFOR operated under the code names Operation Joint Guard (December 21, 1996 - June 19, 1998) and Operation Joint Forge (June 20, 1998 - December 2, 2004). NATO nations providing troops included:

Non-NATO nations providing troops included:

The commanders of the SFOR who each served one-year terms were General William W. Crouch, General Eric Shinseki, General Montgomery Meigs, Lt. General Ronald Adams, Lt. General Michael Dodson, Lt. General John Sylvester, Lt. General William E. Ward, and Major General Virgil Packett. [2],Brigadier General Steven P. Schook

Troop levels were reduced to approximately 12,000 by the close of 2002, and to approximately 7,000 by the close of 2004. During NATO's 2004 Istanbul Summit the end of the SFOR mission was announced.

It was replaced by the European Union's EUFOR Althea, on 2 December 2004 at NATO HQ, Camp Butmir, Sarajevo, B-H. Small numbers of US troops continue involvement (about 250 total) in a limited capacity to hunt down alleged Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić.

SFOR was divided into three zones of operation:

Mostar MNB(S)-Italian, French, Spanish
Banja Luka MND(W)- British, Canadian, Czech, Dutch. The British code name for their activities in both IFOR and SFOR was Operation Resolute.
Tuzla MND(N)- American, Polish, Russian, Swedish.

The three AOs were known collectively as the Multi National Division until the end of 2002 where they were reduced in scope to the Multi National Brigade.

SFOR was operating under peace enforcement, not peacekeeping rules of engagement. For example, it was cleared, in 1997, to neutralize Serb radio-television facilities. ^[1]

Troops serving in SFOR were awarded the NATO Medal.

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