America in Afghanistan: Foreign Policy and Decision Making From Bush to Obama to Trump

(Hardback)

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Afghanistan has been a theatre of civil and international conflict for much of the twentieth century stability is essential if there is to be peace in the Greater Middle East. Yet policy-makers in the West often seem to forget the lessons learned from previous administrations, whose interventions have contributed to the instability in the region. Here, Sharifullah Dorani focuses on the process of decision-making, looking at which factors influenced American policy-makers in the build-up to its longest war, the Afghanistan War, and how reactions on the ground in Afghanistan have influenced events since then. America in Afghanistan is a new, full history of US foreign policy toward Afghanistan from Bushs War on Terror, to Obamas war of Countering Violent Extremism to Trumps war against Radical Islamic Terrorism. Dorani is fluent in Pashto and Dari and uses unique and unseen Afghan source-work, published here for the first time, to understand the people in Afghanistan itself, and to answer their unanswered questions about real US Afghan goals, the reasons for US failures in Afghanistan, especially its inability to improve governance and stop Pakistan, Iran and Russia from supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan, and the reasons for the bewildering changes in US Afghan policy over the course of 16 and a half years. To that end the author also assesses Presidents Karzai and Ghanis responses to Bush, Obama and Trumps policies in Afghanistan and the region. In addition, the book covers the role Afghanistans neighbours Russia, Iran, India, and especially Pakistan played in Americas Afghanistan War. This will be an essential book for those interested in the future of the region, and those who seek to understand its recent past.

Reviews

His is the art of synthesis: of letting the known, verifiable facts speak for themselves ... America in Afghanistan documents forensically how the incapacity or unwillingness of the powerful to imagine the conditions of the conquered can prove devastating to the imbalances of geopolitical power ... The book is most powerful precisely when the anthropological distance is set aside and Dorani allows everyday Afghans to speak ... Their voice gives the book a human scale. * Charged Affairs *
The fact that Dorani spoke to Afghans from 'all walks of life' in researching the book is a strength that yields many of his most cutting insights...Doranis Afghan perspective is truly invaluable. Americans and Westerners should pay attention. * The Strategy Bridge, Carter Malkasian *
The new book by Dr. Sharifullah Dorani ... is not just another story of Afghanistans troubled past, but rather is a remarkable account of the countrys modern history with details, facts and figures that presents in its entirety the reasons that made Afghanistan, in spite of its ancient and rich civilization, renowned globally for all the wrong reasons. * U.S. Studies Online *
A valuable contribution to understanding the complex motivations, causes and consequences of US policy towards Afghanistan and the internal disagreements between the actors. * LSE US Centre *
The book is extremely valuable in terms of understanding decision making towards Afghanistan ... crucial to courses relating to Foreign Policy Analysis, especially those on the Foreign Decision Making Models. * CESRAN *
Doranis work ... provides an interesting overview of U.S. political history throughout the course of the Afghanistan war. * The Palestine Chronicle *
Eminently readable ... a must-read for Afghans and others alike. * Peggy Mason, Rideau Institute, Canada *

Author Bio

Afshan Dorani completed his PhD on the War in Afghanistan at Durham University. He has lived and worked in Afghanistan and lectures on the history of US policy in the region.