EU's hard Afghan slog may perish due to 'Fortress Europe'

As the last US forces left Afghanistan on Tuesday (31 August), ending a painful 20-year conflict, this could have been Europe's hour.

Not its finest hour, mind you, but an opportunity to live up to all that lofty EU talk of rights, values and the rule of law.

It was not to be.

America's ruthless rush to end the longest and arguably one of its most miserable forever wars has left Nato and the EU brutally cut down to size, reduced to little more than hapless bystanders in...