The numerous challenges Afghanistan faces over the next ten years are generally viewed in isolation. The country’s need for security, better governance, and economic development are all taken as givens. However, recommendations for one area rarely consider either the impact they will have on the others or which changes are necessary preconditions to make others viable. More distressing, the...

I arrived at Bagram Airfield on a UN flight in January 2002 with a colleague from Tufts University to assess the state of humanitarian crisis caused by devastating drought, civil war, and the rise of the Taliban regime to power. Bagram Airfield was the only point of entry to Afghanistan and was only open to a few UN and U.S. military flights. After landing, we were guided on a narrow path, passing...

I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who have shared their stories, and have enabled me to develop a better understanding of key events as the result of U.S. policy and its implementation in Afghanistan and beyond. Since the book deals greatly with recent events, for a wide range of reasons many who I spoke with regarding this project asked to remain anonymous. I respect their...

For the last two centuries, Afghanistan was known as the “Buffer Zone” for the strategic rivalries between the British Empire and Russian Empire. These global rivalries led to three Anglo/Afghan wars (1839–1842, 1878–1880, and 1919). At the end of the last century, Afghanistan became a point of contention between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, which led...

The U.S.-led international military intervention in Afghanistan forms a remarkable chapter in contemporary global affairs, particularly for the United States. The significance of the U.S. leadership role in this mission comes not because of the long list of more tactical rather than strategic successes, but because of its very high cost and the fact that it has become the longest military...