The article analyses the evolving partnership between Central Asian countries and NATO, with particular focus on their involvement in Afghanistan in partnership with NATO. The author suggests that future partnerships between Central Asian nations and NATO may prove challenging. The article argues that throughout the ISAF operation in Afghanistan, Central Asian countries have remained consumers and relatively passive spectators. On one hand, through the overall network of PfP and NDN-related activities, Central Asian states have obtained important- and indeed quite successful - experiences in terms of interacting with the once alien and hostile North Atlantic Alliance. The paper concludes that the NATO-Central Asia partnership can become a marker of the post-Cold War ‘reboot’ of the international security system.