The Americans have opportunely switched the burden of their punitive expedition into Afghanistan onto NATO’s shoulders. Because of their mistakes, what should have been a war of liberation has become a war of occupation, not to say a war on the way to being lost. Just like the Soviet Union before it, the North Atlantic organisation, whose reputation is at stake, has slipped into the interventionist spiral, in which ever more troops and materiel are required. This is the moment, before it is too late, to do one of two things: either fight seriously with new combat and pacification tactics, or pull out of a conflict which is heading for catastrophe.
