Statement:\nWestern nations are withdrawing from United Nations peacekeeping missions in areas outside their strategic interest.\nConclusions:\nI. Western nations are primarily acting out of personal safety concerns.\nII. Their deployments are driven more by self-interest than by resolving the distressed country’s problems.

Introduction / Context:
The statement identifies the criterion for withdrawal: the missions are outside the countries’ “strategic interest.” That phrase signals policy choices driven by national objectives, not necessarily by frontline safety conditions or altruistic motives.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Withdrawals occur when a theater is outside strategic interest.
• No explicit mention is made of troop safety, threat levels, or casualty risks.
• “Strategic interest” denotes self-regarding national calculations.

Concept / Approach:
We must test which conclusion necessarily follows. If actions correlate with self-interest (strategic interest), it is reasonable that deployments are guided more by national aims than by the host country’s needs. However, claiming safety as the main reason introduces a different, unstated rationale.

Step-by-Step Solution:
1) Conclusion I (safety caution): The text does not mention safety; a theater can be safe yet outside strategic interest, or dangerous yet strategically vital. Hence I does not follow.2) Conclusion II (self-interest motive): Because the stated decision rule is alignment with “strategic interest,” self-interest is explicitly foregrounded as the driver for staying or leaving. Thus II follows.

Verification / Alternative check:
If the statement had said “they withdrew due to escalating risks,” safety would be implicated. Instead, “outside strategic interest” grounds the decision in national self-interest.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
“Either” or “Neither” misread the explicit rationale given; “Only I” invents a safety premise.

Common Pitfalls:
Conflating strategic interest (policy calculus) with troop safety (operational risk) and assuming they always coincide.

Final Answer:
if only conclusion II follows