The Changing Face of Afghanistan, 2001-08
Abstract
The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) were the most catastrophic attacks on the US. homeland since Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They were particularly devastating because they were perpetrated by a small number of lightly-armed religious extremists, and thus brought home to the United States the lethality of ideologically-motivated asymmetric warfare in the 21st century. The attacks were recognized as acts of war by both the George W. Bush administration and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history. The President declared the United States would respond to the attacks accordingly, using all of its relevant resources. While the administration recognized the enemy facing the United States and the civilized world was the combination of a global network of Islamic extremist groups (al gaed was but one of the groups) and their state and constate sponsors, it focused first on Afghanistan. Shortly after 9/11, President Bush articulated his broad foreign policy goals in Afghanistan and laid out a strategy that included the main instruments of US. national power: diplomatic, economic, and military. He also recognized the United States could not achieve its objectives unilaterally; he welcomed and strongly supported cooperation with the United Nations (UN) and the international community. Throughout the entire Bush administration, from 2001 to 2008, the US.-led effort in Afghanistan was multilateral and multinational.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA548190
Entities
People
- Deborah Hanagan
Organizations
- United States Army War College