The global community needs to focus on three key problems — nuclear nonproliferation, rogue states and terrorism — said Ehud Barak, ex-prime minister of Israel. But handling these problems, he said on day two of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, requires a “paradigm shift” in the way the world is run, one that is more inclusive and less driven by a single player.

Barak listed what he saw as “lessons of the past four years”. He said there was a need for a determined, focused global leadership but one involving all the major powers, India and China included. World leaders today, he said, need a deep understanding of other cultures, even macroeconomics. “Leaders must focus on details without losing sight of the big picture.”

The good news of the past four years: the fall of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, the end of A.Q. Khan and Libya’s nuclear ambitions, Syria being placed in the international dock and “the turnaround of the world economy”.

The bad news, Barak said, was Iraq, where insurgency continues and civil war threatens. After a brilliant military campaign, the US “committed every conceivable mistake in Iraq”.

Any newly elected Iraqi regime will need to legitimise itself by asking US troops to leave, Barak said. While he said an exit strategy for the United States was needed, he also warned that a US failure in Iraq would embolden militants everywhere, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. Osama bin Laden’s greatest accomplishment has been to “ignite the imaginations of millions of Muslims around the world”.

US policy must be replaced by a more multilateral, “more soft but effective approach”. But much greater international cooperation is needed. For example, stopping Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons will require the determined effort of the whole world. And a solution for the North Korean nuclear crisis should involve India and China.