Afghanistan—2001–Present

Abstract

The difficulty facing the United States in trying to bring stability to Afghanistan was nicely summarized by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her 2006 statement that, five years after the United States intervened militarily in 2001, the country was in danger of becoming a failed state (Rotberg, 2007:3). In the modern era, two themes have run through Afghan history: the struggle for development and reaction to foreign security threats (Jalali, 2007:24). Development, as well as cultural change, has been slow and difficult. Foreign security threats have been numerous. The United States is the third major power to have engaged Afghanistan in less than a century, after an Afghan war with the Soviet Union and a series of wars with Great Britain.

I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!

President George W. Bush responding to rescue workers at ground zero in New York City after 9/11

I said, ‘General Petraeus, winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans is not the job of a soldier. That’s the job of an Afghan.’

Mohammad Umer Daudzai, President Hamid Karzai’s chief of staff