Forward Procrastination? Afghanistan’s Lessons about Europe’s Role as a Security Provider
Abstract
If the St Malo process implicitly carried potential to develop European
‘strategic actorness’ and some European security autonomy, throughout
the Afghan experience Europeans have, despite occasional opt-outs, largely
converged around a role of complementing the US’ security leadership.
With respect to the Europeans’ collective presence in the international
security arena, the rhetoric of ‘shaping’ global events seems to have given
way to a rather passive-reactive attitude vis-à-vis Europe’s security concerns,
and the Afghan case exemplifies this dynamic. The combined lack
of ambition and capability in member state and EU security contributions
makes one wonder if the Europeans’ security role is really about offering
solutions to the fires on their southern and eastern surroundings, or rather
about ‘forward procrastination’ and reactive containment.