Do you sincerely want to win?

In the case of Afghanistan, the answer from the European members of NATO at last week's NATO summit appears to be no.

Of course there are different roles to be played in conflict prevention. logistics and intelligence support, peace keeping and post conflict reconstruction but none of this will have any value if there is no will or capability for military engagement - the hard, dirty end of keeping Europe well-defended.

This is a role which can't be sub-contracted to a few NATO members, because it represents inequality of sacrifice and makes it more difficult to build political support in those countries who are prepared to make combat troops available.

Put simply, people say "Why are our service personnel dying for the benefit of others?"

And it's the main reason why I'll be voting against the Treaty of Lisbon - because any moves to create a country called Europe should be put on hold until there is evidence that such a country can defend itself independently of NATO (which has come to mean in practice independently of the United States)