Success in Afghanistan needs China and Russia

But achieving success in Afghanistan - defined as achieving a sustainable democratic regime able to contain political violence, prevent the reconstruction of a terrorist base with global reach, and dampen a narcotics-funded insurgency that threatens neighboring countries - requires greater policy harmonisation among the world powers that have a stake in the outcome.

Much recent attention has focused on how NATO, Afghan, and Pakistani security forces can collaborate to defeat the insurgency and prevent the country from becoming a terrorist haven again. But the past few years have underscored NATO's inability to achieve sustained political, economic, and security improvements in Afghanistan without more effective international collaboration, particularly with China and Russia.