Since the end of the Cold War, states have intervened militarily in regional crises and conflicts in various coalitions, acting in the name of the International Community � with unconvincing success. The approach of stumbling forward, pursued by NATO, the UN and the EU during the conflict in Afghanistan, is no way out of the strategic dilemma: Improvised trial and error strategies are no strategy at all. Successful peacebuilding requires necessarily and in any case a coherent and common strategy. In some cases, alternative intervention strategies such as a strategy of "flexible containment� should be considered.