The overarching redeŽnition of international relations prompted by the events of 11 September 2001 fundamentally challenged existing security   structures, but in this reformation of anachronistic arrangements have we considered the function- ality of our political exports, or have they been overlooked?

There is a possibility that the international political order needs to be allowed more uidity if it is not to collapse onto itself. In reconsidering these geopolitical dynamics, particularly then the export of secular democracy to Islamic societies, this essay takes an alternative perspective on the war on terrorism and the intervention in Afghanistan. Instead of engaging in the methodological debate of how a new administration should be constructed, it attempts to turn a mirror on the West and explore the different motivations of the parties reshaping the country. It also describes the emergence of a new political form originating in the Islamic tradition, which has evolved from the special difŽculties facing post-colonial Muslim societies.