The “Afghan model” of warfare, first introduced during the war in Afghanistan (2001) and revived during the war in Libya (2011), involves the use of air power and Special Forces to support local forces. It enables the military to launch interventions abroad without the need to deploy conventional troops, which significantly decreases the financial and human costs of war. Moreover, its military proficiency was clearly demonstrated with the overthrow of the Taliban’s and Kadhafi’s regimes, thus making it an attractive model for future interventions. However, on the political level, the track record of the Afghan model is dubious at best : in Afghanistan and in Libya, it first and foremost enabled the rise of militias that have since then contributed to the general instability in both countries.