United States foreign policy in Afghanistan from the Soviet era to the present. (c2008)

Abstract

Having contained the communist threat through the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan, the United States indirectly created a heavenly environment for extremists and terrorists. Afghanistan became increasingly unstable, and the world gained a new challenge: international terrorism. Two of the current and ongoing American foreign strategic goals are securing access to oil resources and fighting terrorists around the globe. These two goals became complementary to each other; in order to secure the oil resources, there has to be stability in the regions that have the most oil. Terrorists therefore constitute a barrier to such stability and peace as well as to achieving economic development in countries such as Afghanistan. This thesis first describes the history of American policy in Afghanistan, then tries to asses whether the United States has achieved its strategic goals of securing oil and fighting terrorism through its foreign policy in Afghanistan; in other words, the thesis asks: Has US foreign policy in Afghanistan from the Soviet Era to the present been a success or a failure? Unfortunately, the thesis concludes that the US has not reached its foreign policy objectives. More importantly, Afghanistan has turned into a failing or failed state and a major drug trafficker. Terrorism has not yet been contained, and the killing of innocent civilians continues to escalate.