{"product_id":"2940148781493","title":"The Changing Face of Afghanistan, 2001-08","description":"The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9\/11) were the most catastrophic attacks on the\u003cbr\u003eU.S. homeland since Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They were particularly devastating because\u003cbr\u003ethey were perpetrated by a small number of lightly-armed religious extremists, and thus\u003cbr\u003ebrought home to the United States the lethality of ideologically-motivated asymmetric\u003cbr\u003ewarfare in the 21st century. The attacks were recognized as acts of war by both the George\u003cbr\u003eW. Bush administration and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which invoked\u003cbr\u003eArticle 5 for the first time in its history. The President declared the United States\u003cbr\u003ewould respond to the attacks accordingly, using all of its relevant resources. While the\u003cbr\u003eadministration recognized the enemy facing the United States and the civilized world\u003cbr\u003ewas the combination of a global network of Islamic extremist groups (al Qaeda was but\u003cbr\u003eone of the groups) and their state and nonstate sponsors, it focused first on Afghanistan.\u003cbr\u003eShortly after 9\/11, President Bush articulated his broad foreign policy goals in Afghanistan\u003cbr\u003eand laid out a strategy that included the main instruments of U.S. national\u003cbr\u003epower: diplomatic, economic, and military. He also recognized the United States could\u003cbr\u003enot achieve its objectives unilaterally; he welcomed and strongly supported cooperation\u003cbr\u003ewith the United Nations (UN) and the international community. Throughout the entire\u003cbr\u003eBush administration, from 2001 to 2008, the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan was multilateral\u003cbr\u003eand multinational.\u003cbr\u003eThe overarching U.S. goals for Afghanistan, which remained unchanged throughout\u003cbr\u003ethe Bush administration, and which were maintained by the Barack Obama administration,\u003cbr\u003ewere to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its allies, stop their use of\u003cbr\u003eAfghanistan as a terrorist base of operations, and engage in reconstruction to help the\u003cbr\u003eemergence of a representative, democratic government so that Afghanistan could never\u003cbr\u003eagain become a sanctuary for terrorist groups. The achievement of the overarching goals\u003cbr\u003erequired a strategy of mutually reinforcing political, economic, and military efforts.\u003cbr\u003eThe Bush administration’s main political objectives in Afghanistan were to encourage\u003cbr\u003ethe establishment of stable, representative political institutions and the rule of law.\u003cbr\u003eIts main economic objectives were to encourage basic human development, critical reconstruction,\u003cbr\u003eand the establishment of stable economic institutions and a market-based\u003cbr\u003eeconomy. Its main military objective was to provide security, so that political and economic\u003cbr\u003edevelopment could proceed. The administration repeatedly emphasized that security,\u003cbr\u003eeconomic development, stable governance, the rule of law, and human rights\u003cbr\u003ewere all interconnected, and that continued progress in all areas were necessary to ensure\u003cbr\u003eAfghanistan did not again become a sanctuary for transnational terrorist movements.\u003cbr\u003eWhile the overall U.S. objectives remained constant, the strategies to achieve\u003cbr\u003ethem evolved over time as progress was made, or to account for the sheer difficulty of\u003cbr\u003ebringing into the 21st century a country as destroyed and undeveloped as Afghanistan. \u003cbr\u003eWhile the strategies of the United States and its partners in the international community\u003cbr\u003ewere never adequately synchronized or coordinated, their efforts were unprecedented\u003cbr\u003ein Afghanistan. By 2008, more than 40 countries and hundreds of governmental\u003cbr\u003eand nongovernmental organizations were engaged in political, economic, and military\u003cbr\u003eefforts. Despite legitimate criticisms of shortcomings and failures, concrete progress was made in the country between 2001 and 2008. In a short period of time, Afghanistan, with\u003cbr\u003eU.S. and international assistance, created the foundations for a representative democracy\u003cbr\u003eand market-based economy and it identified clear future goals in various international\u003cbr\u003eagreements.\u003cbr\u003eOne could argue there was a basis for optimism about Afghanistan over the long\u003cbr\u003eterm as administrations transitioned from George W. Bush to Barack Obama, due to\u003cbr\u003ethe massive international and Afghan efforts after 2001, the embrace of representative\u003cbr\u003epolitical institutions by the Afghan people and their rejection of the Taliban. While the\u003cbr\u003estruggle had been long and hard, U.S. senior leaders expressed confidence by early 2009\u003cbr\u003ethat, with continued international engagement and support, Afghanistan can reach the\u003cbr\u003etipping point where it has enough internal capacity and capability to govern and secure\u003cbr\u003eitself, allowing the international community to step into the background. This would\u003cbr\u003emean the definitive achievement of the main U.S. objective in Afghanistan: ensuring it\u003cbr\u003enever again becomes a sanctuary for transnational terrorist groups.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"ReadCycle","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47173506564336,"sku":"2940148781493","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940148781493_p0.jpg?v=1763708303","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940148781493","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}