The outcome of attempts at western-backed state building in Afghanistan and Iraq is precarious. Clearly, strategic failure would increase internal instability and promote the export and spillover into the wider region of the weaknesses, violence and hatreds that these collapsed or failed states would generate.
In addition, failure would provide a massive boost to terrorist groups and, perhaps more importantly, the ideologies that underpin them, representing a catastrophic setback for the global ‘war’ on terrorism.
Given that NATO – the most durable and effective military alliance in history according to its supporters – leads the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and sixteen of the 25 NATO states have troops in Iraq, including Britain, Poland and the United States, what might be the impact of strategic failure on the transatlantic alliance?
