1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789699503321

Autore

Bird Tim <1962->

Titolo

Afghanistan [[electronic resource] ] : how the West lost its way / / Tim Bird and Alex Marshall

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2011

ISBN

1-283-15057-3

9786613150578

0-300-15458-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (310 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

MarshallAlex <1976 Nov. 2->

Disciplina

958.104/7

Soggetti

Afghan War, 2001-2021

Strategy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-298) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER ONE. THE GREAT ENIGMA: Afghanistan in historical context -- CHAPTER TWO. 9/11 AND THE RESPONSE, 11-25 SEPTEMBER 2001 -- CHAPTER THREE. 'BOOTS ON THE GROUND': From the arrival of the CIA to the emergency Loya Jirga, 26 September 2001-June 2002 -- CHAPTER FOUR. 'TAKING THE EYE OFF THE BALL?' THE ROOTS OF TALIBAN REVIVAL IN AFGHANISTAN, 2002-05 -- CHAPTER FIVE. RETURN TO THE 'FORGOTTEN WAR', 2006-08 -- CHAPTER SIX. THE PAKISTAN PROBLEM -- CHAPTER SEVEN. SILVER BULLETS AND THE SEARCH FOR AN EXIT, 2009-11 -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

In October 2001, NATO forces invaded Afghanistan. Their initial aim, to topple the Taliban regime and replace it with a more democratic government aligned to Western interests, was swiftly achieved. However, stabilizing the country in the ensuing years has proven much more difficult. Despite billions of dollars in aid and military expenditure, Afghanistan remains a nation riddled with warlords, the world's major heroin producer, and the site of a seemingly endless conflict between Islamist militants and NATO forces. In this timely and important book, Tim Bird and Alex Marshall offer a panoramic view of international involvement in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2011. Tackling



the subject matter as a whole, Bird and Marshall weave together analysis of military strategy, regional context, aid policy, the Afghan government, and the many disagreements between and within the Western powers involved in the intervention. Given the complicating factors of the heroin trade, unwelcoming terrain, and precarious relations with Pakistan, the authors acknowledge the ways in which Afghanistan has presented unique challenges for its foreign invaders. Ultimately, however, they argue that the international community has failed in its self-imposed effort to solve Afghanistan's problems and that there are broader lessons to be learned from their struggle, particularly in terms of counterinsurgency and the ever-complicated work of "nation-building." The overarching feature of the intervention, they argue, has been an absence of strategic clarity and coherence.