“At What Cost & Why

Abstract

Analysts, government officials and scholars have been in dilemma since the US committed itself to accept worldwide security and stability through its military assistance programs. Thus, US legislators aimed at reducing costly direct military intervention and substituting it with security assistance. The effectiveness and success of these programs still pose a controversy that is understudied especially in terms of determining the nature of US involvement and the different threat environment in every fragile state. The following study investigates the US aid to LAF following the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. It examines whether the US strategy in Lebanon is likely to achieve its goals or would it be doomed to fail.