The cost of the West’s retreat from this troubled region is predictable, since we must deal with several threats that endanger Western security, and that would not disappear with withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan: terrorism, Islamist radicalism, nuclear threats (Pakistan, Iran), proxy wars and regional conflicts (Israel-Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kashmir), and looming disintegration (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in the longer term in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula). This means that we cannot talk about withdrawing our troops, but only of redrawing the battle line farther West.
西方国家从这一混乱地区撤军的代价是可以预估的。西方安全的几大威胁并不会随着从伊拉克和阿富汗撤军而消失：恐怖主义、伊斯兰极端势力、核威胁（巴基斯坦与伊朗）、代理人战争、地区冲突（巴以冲突、伊拉克、阿富汗和克什米尔地区）以及愈演愈烈的脱离国际秩序中的倾向（伊拉克、阿富汗、巴基斯坦，从长远来看还包括波斯湾以及阿拉伯半岛）。这说明，西方国家完全撤军根本是不可能的，最多是向西收缩战线。