America Retreats - What Next?

European Union Comment and Analysis Foreign Affairs Democracy Alternatives to the EU Enlargement The Politics of Culture

Is America's precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan just a temporary setback, or does it signal a strategic retreat, an abdication from its role as world leader? If so, it will leave a gaping void, a vacuum that others will want to step in and fill. To be a world leader a country needs not only muscle (economic, military, demographic) but also a m...