America in Afghanistan: Foreign Policy and Decision Making From Bush to Obama to Trump (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)

"Afghanistan has been a theatre of civil and international conflict for much of the twentieth century -- stability is essential if there is to be peace in the Greater Middle East. Yet policy-makers in the West often seem to forget the lessons learned from previous administrations, whose interventions have contributed to the instability in the region. Here, Sharifullah Dorani focuses on the process of decision-making, looking at which factors influenced American policy-makers in the build-up to its longest war, the Afghanistan War, and how reactions on the ground in Afghanistan have influenced events since then. America in Afghanistan is a new, full history of US foreign policy toward Afghanistan from Bush's 'War on Terror', to Obama's war of 'Countering Violent Extremism' to Trump's war against 'Radical Islamic Terrorism'. Dorani is fluent in Pashto and Dari and uses unique and unseen Afghan source-work, published here for the first time, to understand the people in Afghanistan itself, and to answer their unanswered questions about 'real' US Afghan goals, the reasons for US failures in Afghanistan, especially its inability to improve governance and stop Pakistan, Iran and Russia from supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan, and the reasons for the bewildering changes in US Afghan policy over the course of 16 and a half years. To that end the author also assesses Presidents Karzai and Ghani's responses to Bush, Obama and Trump's policies in Afghanistan and the region. In addition, the book covers the role Afghanistan's neighbours -- Russia, Iran, India, and especially Pakistan -- played in America's Afghanistan War. This will be an essential book for those interested in the future of the region, and those who seek to understand its recent past."--Bloomsbury Publishing Cover 1 Author Biography 2 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 12 PART I. BUSH’S ‘GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR’ IN AFGHANISTAN, 2001 – 8 24 1. The Intervention Decision at the Initiation Stage 26 2. The Intervention and Counterterrorism Decisions at the Formulation Stage, September 2001 – February 2002 39 To Counter Terrorists or Build Afghanistan: That Was the Question 53 3. An Insider’s Insight into Bush’s War Cabinet 59 4. The Counterterrorism Strategy at the Implementation Stage, 2002 – 8 72 The Iraq Preoccupation Makes the Afghanistan War Forgotten 72 Pakistan Played the Role of both a Firefighter and an Arsonist 79 The Light Footprint Part of the Strategy Proved Disastrous 87 5. The Counterterrorism Strategy at the Evaluation Stage and Bush’s Tilt towards a Counter-insurgency Strategy, 2007 – 8 93 PART II. OBAMA’S WAR OF ‘COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM’ IN AFGHANISTAN, 2009 – 17 108 6. The Surge Decision at the Initiation Phase 110 7. An Insider’s Insight into Obama’s War Cabinet 124 8. The Surge Decision at the Formulation Phase, September – December 2009 143 9. The Surge Decision at the Implementation Phase, January 2010 – June 2011 160 10. The Surge Decision at the Evaluation Phase and Obama’s Formulation of the Withdrawal Decision, June 2011 183 Obama Formulates the Decision to Withdraw 190 11. The Withdrawal Strategy at the Implementation Phase and Obama’s Final Policy Alterations, July 2011 – December 2016 196 PART III. TRUMP’S WAR AGAINST ‘RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM’ IN AFGHANISTAN, 2016 – 18 206 12. An Insider’s Insight into President Trump and his Administration 208 13. Trump’s South Asia Strategy in Afghanistan at the Initiation, Formulation and Implementation Phases, 2016 – 18 220 Conclusion 234 Notes 242 Bibliography 290 Index 317 La 4e de couv. indique : "Afghanistan has been a theatre of civil and international conflict for much of the twentieth century--stability is essential if there is to be peace in the Greater Middle East. Yet policy makers in the West often seem to forget the lessons learned from previous administrations, whose interventions have contributed to the instability in the region. Here, Sharifullah Dorani focuses on the process of decision making, looking at which factors influenced American policy makers in the build-up to its longest war, the Afghanistan War, and how reactions on the ground in Afghanistan have influenced events since then. America in Afghanistan is a new, full history of US foreign policy toward Afghanistan from Bush's 'War On Terror', to Obama's war of 'Countering Violent Extremism' to Trump's war against 'Radical Islamic Terrorism'. Dorani is fluent in Pashto and Dari and uses unique and unseen Afghan source-work, published here for the first time, to understand the people in Afghanistan itself, and to answer their unanswered questions about 'real' US Afghan goals, the reasons for US failures in Afghanistan, especially its instability to improve governance and stop Pakistan, Iran and Russia from supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan, and the reasons for the bewildering changes in US Afghan policy over the course of 16 and a half years. To that end the author also assesses Presidents Karzai and Ghani's responses to Bush, Obama and Trump's policies in Afghanistan and the region. In addition, the book covers the role Afghanistan's neighbours--Russia, Iran, India, and especially Pakistan--played in America's Afghanistan War. This will be an essential book for these interested in the future of the region, and those who seek to understand its recent past." Afghanistan has been a theatre of civil and international conflict for much of the twentieth century--stability is essential if there is to be peace in the Greater Middle East. Yet policy makers in the West often seem to forget the lessons learned from previous administrations, whose interventions have contributed to the instability in the region. Here, Sharifullah Dorani focuses on the process of decision making, looking at which factors influenced American policy makers in the build-up to its longest war, the Afghanistan War, and how reactions on the ground in Afghanistan have influenced events since then. America in Afghanistan is a new, full history of US foreign policy toward Afghanistan from Bush's 'War On Terror', to Obama's war of 'Countering Violent Extremism' to Trump's war against 'Radical Islamic Terrorism'. Dorani is fluent in Pashto and Dari and uses unique and unseen Afghan source-work, published here for the first time, to understand the people in Afghanistan itself, and to answer their unanswered questions about 'real' US Afghan goals, the reasons for US failures in Afghanistan, especially its instability to improve governance and stop Pakistan, Iran and Russia from supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan, and the reasons for the bewildering changes in US Afghan policy over the course of 16 and a half years. To that end the author also assesses Presidents Karzai and Ghani's responses to Bush, Obama and Trump's policies in Afghanistan and the region. In addition, the book covers the role Afghanistan's neighbours--Russia, Iran, India, and especially Pakistan--played in America's Afghanistan War. This will be an essential book for these interested in the future of the region, and those who seek to understand its recent past--back cover. Afghanistan has been a theater of civil and international conflict for much of the 20th Century - stability is essential if there is to be peace in the Middle East. Yet policymakers in the West often seem to forget the lessons learned from previous administrations, whose interventions have contributed to the instability in the region. Here, Afshan Dorani focuses on the process of decision-making, looking at which factors influenced American policy-makers in the build-up to the second Afghan War, and how reactions on the ground in Afghanistan have influenced events since then. America in Afghanistan is a new, full history of US foreign policy toward Afghanistan from President George W. Bush's administration and the 'war on terror', to President Barack Obama's drone strikes. Dorani is fluent in Pashto and Dari and uses unique and unseen Afghan source-work, published here for the first time, to understand the people in Afghanistan itself. To that end the author also assesses the work of the advisors who influenced Presidents Kharzai and Ghani. This will be an essential book for those interested in the future of the region, and those who seek to understand its recent past.