Kathrine Frich
Western politicians use the fractured country as a textbook example of what to avoid.
When a house on your street catches fire, you immediately check your own smoke alarms.
A sudden catastrophe right next door changes how people spend their money and prepare for the worst.
For several nations sharing a volatile border, that lesson came at a massive cost.
A costly lesson
Fifteen years ago, a foreign military coalition helped remove Muammar Gaddafi from power in Libya. The sudden collapse left a dangerous vacuum that sent shockwaves across the region.
Watching the country tear itself apart terrified nearby governments. To protect their own borders, nations like Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia launched huge spending sprees.
According to Business insider based on figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), these governments spent over $320 billion on military upgrades between 2011 and 2025. They loaded up on combat drones, stealth fighters, and modern warships.
Former US President Barack Obama famously reflected on the chaos during a 2016 interview with Fox News. He called his “worst mistake” as president “probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.”
The price of chaos
During that same broadcast, Obama defended the initial military action. He noted that the mission “averted large-scale civilian casualties (and) prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil conflict”.
Yet, he admitted the bitter reality of the final outcome. “And despite all that, Libya is a mess,” Obama said.
The financial ruin is staggering. Before the war, the World Bank ranked Libya among the wealthiest countries in Africa per person.
Today, the picture is incredibly grim. The International Monetary Fund recently warned that the current financial direction is “unsustainable”, noting massive public debt and skyrocketing inflation.
A global warning
Now, Western politicians use the fractured country as a textbook example of what to avoid. It serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of forced government changes.
As tensions rise in the Middle East, American leaders frequently point to the North African nation. US Vice President JD Vance recently warned against turning Iran into “another Libya”.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker echoed this exact sentiment earlier this year. “We don’t want another Libya scenario,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Libya remains split in two. Its wealthy neighbors continue to arm themselves, determined to never suffer the same fate.
Sources: Fox News, Business insider
