Military might is not very helpful in the modern world. The NATO coalition could not hold their ground in a country such as Afghanistan nor could all of Europe

Military might is not very helpful in the modern world. The NATO coalition could not hold their ground in a country such as Afghanistan nor could all of Europe prevent that the collapse of order in Syria (a country of 20m) caused a spill of 2m migrants into Europe. Your parent was suggesting that the developed world could not deal with a collapse of India or Brazil or several populous African countries.