Unlike Iraq, in Afghanistan an international consensus supports common goals for the entire operation, providing a test of whether the ‘international community’ is capable of effective joint action to make societies secure, even when their insecurity threatens the whole world. So far the results indicate that governments and international institutions are not up to the job.

September 11 revealed the dangers of allowing so-called humanitarian emergencies or failed states to fester—not only to neighboring countries but to the world. An American administration that came to power denouncing efforts at ‘nation building’ and criticizing reliance on international organizations and agreements has now proclaimed that it needs to ensure a ‘stable Afghanistan’ to prevent that country from ever again becoming a haven for terrorists.