By opting, as a response to the terrorist attacks on Washinton and New York, for military action in Afghanistan, the United States has put Central Asia at the heart of the conflict which began on September 11. This minimal response carries obvious risks: the risk of being snared in the Afghan trap, the risk of destabilising Pakistan, which is both a discreet launching pad for the American intervention and a Taliban rearguard, and finally the risk of failing to neutralise Bin Laden, his organisation and his accomplices. And the United States cannot afford to fail; it is its own capacity to deter that is being tested. Washington will therefore find itself faced with terrible choices with which the Europeans will have to associate themselves and on which the regional balances of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia will depend to a large extend.

This content is published in French - Après le 11 septembre : la riposte et sa cible