Days of Opportunity: The United States and Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion (Global America)

Long before the 1979 Soviet invasion, the United States was closely concerned with Afghanistan. For much of the twentieth century, American diplomats, policy makers, businesspeople, and experts took part in the Afghan struggle to modernize, delivered vital aid, and involved themselves in Kabul’s conflicts with its neighbors. For their own part, many Afghans embraced the potential benefits of political and commercial ties with the United States. Yet these relationships ultimately helped make the country a Cold War battleground. Robert B. Rakove sheds new light on the little-known and often surprising history of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan from the 1920s to the Soviet invasion, tracing its evolution and exploring its lasting consequences. Days of Opportunity chronicles the battle for influence in Kabul, as Americans contended with vigorous communist bloc competition and the independent ambitions of successive Afghan governments. Rakove examines the phases of peaceful Cold War competition, including development assistance, cultural diplomacy, and disaster relief. He demonstrates that Americans feared the “loss” of Afghanistan to Soviet influence―and were never simply bystanders, playing pivotal roles in the country’s political life. The ensuing collision of U.S., Soviet, and Afghan ambitions transformed the country―and ultimately led it, and the world, toward calamity. Harnessing extensive research in U.S. and international archives, Days of Opportunity unveils the remarkable and tragic history of American involvement in Afghanistan. "Long before the calamities of our own age, the United States involved itself deeply in Afghanistan. Harnessing extensive research in U.S. and foreign archives, the historian Rob Rakove traces the remarkable, ultimately tragic story of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan up to the 1979 Soviet invasion. Committed to the preservation of Afghan independence, the United States played an unwitting, destabilizing role in the country, contributing to Afghanistan's emergence as a Cold War battlefield. Most histories of Afghanistan in the Cold War focus on the 1979 Soviet invasion and the country's emergence as a principal battleground in the 1980s. Even as post-Cold War scholarship has substantially corrected prior notions of what motivated Moscow and offered invaluable studies of U.S.-supported development programs in Afghanistan, an overarching treatment of Washington's efforts in Afghanistan remains to be published and the myth of inattention remains intact. The distinction is this: if the United States largely absented itself from pre-cataclysm Afghanistan, it committed at most a sin of omission. If it funded a few token, misconceived aid programs, while Moscow pursued a coherent, aggressive design, that verdict still holds. If, however, the U.S. role has been understated, and Soviet malevolence has been exaggerated, Washington bears considerable responsibility for the disasters that befell Afghanistan at the end of the 1970s. Days of Opportunity chronicles the vibrant years of peaceful Afghan-American relations, beginning in the wake of the Great War, and continuing until the Soviet invasion. It depicts the U.S. relationship with a different Afghanistan: a country largely at peace, which had evaded enlistment in the world wars, and which struck observers as a success story in Cold War nonalignment. It does not treat the collapse of Afghan nonalignment or the failure of the Afghan state as inevitable developments. It is an account of diplomacy and aid across six generally overlooked decades, described by historian Nile Green as the "missing middle" of Afghan history."-- Provided by publisher Long before the 1979 Soviet invasion, the United States was closelyconcerned with Afghanistan. For much of the twentieth century,American diplomats, policy makers, businesspeople, and experts tookpart in the Afghan struggle to modernize, delivered vital aid, andinvolved themselves in Kabul's conflicts with its neighbors. Fortheir own part, many Afghans embraced the potential benefits ofpolitical and commercial ties with the United States. Yet theserelationships ultimately helped make the country a Cold Warbattleground. Robert B. Rakove sheds new light on the little-knownand often surprising history of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan fromthe 1920s to the Soviet invasion, tracing its evolution andexploring its lasting consequences. Days of Opportunitychronicles the battle for influence in Kabul, as Americanscontended with vigorous communist bloc competition and theindependent ambitions of successive Afghan governments. Rakoveexamines the phases of peaceful Cold War competition, includingdevelopment assistance, cultural diplomacy, and disaster relief. Hedemonstrates that Americans feared the "loss" of Afghanistan toSoviet influence-and were never simply bystanders, playing pivotalroles in the country's political life. The ensuing collision ofU.S., Soviet, and Afghan ambitions transformed the country-andultimately led it, and the world, toward calamity. Harnessingextensive research in U.S. and international archives, Days ofOpportunity unveils the remarkable and tragic history ofAmerican involvement in Afghanistan Table of Contents 8 Notes for the Reader 10 Introduction: “A Day of Opportunity” 16 1. A Game of Hide-and-Seek: The Afghan Pursuit of Diplomatic Relations, 1921–1938 28 2. “We Have a Rare Opportunity”: U.S.-Afghan Relations Amid the World Crisis, 1938–1945 48 3. Preeminence and Peril: The American Influx and the Coming of the Afghan Cold War, 1945–1952 78 4. “We Might Be Willing to Take a Chance”: The Choice to Contest Afghanistan, 1953–1956 115 5. Anxious Coexistence: The Aid Contest, 1956–1959 150 6. The Crisis Era, 1959–1963 186 7. Reform and Retrenchment, 1963–1968 220 8. The Fall of the Monarchy, 1968–1973 254 9. Return to Engagement, 1973–1976 287 10. The End of Diplomacy, 1977–1979 321 Conclusion: “Into the Jaws of Catastrophe” 358 Acknowledgments 372 List of Abbreviations 378 Notes 380 List of Archives 460 Index 464