Abstract
This chapter examines President Barack Obama’s policy regarding Afghanistan, arguably the centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy in the last two years. U.S. Afghan policy has been the subject of intense debate inside and outside the government, with very high stakes. The success or failure of our policy in Afghanistan and greater South Asia has profound implications for the global war on terror and for security and stability in a crucial region of the world, where nuclear-armed powers face off against each other. Obama’s policies break markedly with those of his predecessor, George W. Bush, with a much greater commitment of troops (roughly 100,000 deployed in-country by early 2011) and finance. However, Obama’s term in office will also likely see an “endgame” play out in Afghanistan as well, as a new strategy is tested there, perhaps with one chance to succeed.
I’m not signing on to a failure. If what I proposed is not working, I’m not going to be like these other presidents and stick to it based upon my ego or my politics—my political security.
—Barack Obama, November 29, 2009 (Woodward 2010, 324)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Bergen, Peter. 2011. “The Crossroads: Can We Win in Afghanistan?” New Republic, May 26.
Blackwill, Robert D. 2011. “Plan B in Afghanistan.” Foreign Affairs 90:42–50.
Boyle, Michael J. 2010. “Do Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Go Together?” International Affairs 86:333–53.
Bumiller, Elisabeth. 2010. “US Tweaks Message on Troops in Afghanistan.” The New York Times, November 10. Accessed April 26, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/world/asia/11military.html.
Chaudhuri, Rudra, and Theo Farrell. 2011. “Campaign Disconnect: Operational Progress and Strategic Obstacles in Afghanistan, 2009–2011.” International Affairs 87:271–96.
Coll, Steve. 2011. “US-Taliban Talks.” New Yorker, February 28.
DeYoung, Karen. 2010. “US, NATO to Announce ‘Transition’ Strategy in Afghanistan War.” The Washington Post, November 14.
Fair, C. Christine. 2010. “‘Clear, Build, Hold, Transfer’: Can Obama’s Afghan Strategy Work?” Asian Affairs: An American Review 37:113–31.
Fair, C. Christine. 2011. “Under the Shrinking US Security Umbrella: India’s Endgame in Afghanistan?” Washington Quarterly 34:179–92.
Farrell, Theo. 2010. Appraising Moshtarak: The Campaign in Nad-e-Ali District, Helmand. Royal United Services Institute Report. London: RUSI. Accessed May 2011. http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/Appraising_Moshtarak.pdf.
Goudsouzian, Tanya, and Helena Malikyar. 2010. “The Danger of Marginalizing Afghanistan’s Pashtun’s.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, December 16. Accessed May 13, 2011. http://www.rferl.org/content/feature/2250550.html.
International Crisis Group. 2010. “Afghanistan: Exit vs. Engagement.” Asia Briefing no. 115, November 28. Accessed May 2011. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/B115-afghanistan-exit-vs-engagement.aspx.
International Crisis Group. 2011. “Afghanistan’s Election Stalemate.” Asia Briefing no. 117, February 23. Accessed May 2011. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/B117-afghanistans-elections-stalemate.aspx.
Kfir, Isaac. 2009. “US Policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan under the Obama Administration.” Middle East Review of International Affairs 13:20–33.
Jones, Seth G. 2010. In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan. New York: W.W. Norton.
Malik, Iftikhar. 2010. Pakistan: Democracy, Terrorism, and the Building of a Nation. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press.
Malikyar, Helena, and Tanya Goudsouzian. 2011. “Bin Laden is Gone—But Afghanistan Can Still be Lost.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 8. Accessed May 13, 2011. http://www.rferl.org/content/bin_laden_is_gone_but_afghanistan_can_still_be_lost/24094756.html.
Mazzetti, Mark, and Dexter Filkins. 2010. Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban’s Top Commander.” The New York Times, February 16. Accessed May 25, 2011. http://www.nytimes/2010/02/16/world/asia.
Mazzetti, Mark, and Jane Perlez. 2010. “CIA and Pakistan Work Together, Warily.” The New York Times, February 24. Accessed May 4, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/world/asia.
Nelson, Matthew J. 2010. “Pakistan in 2009: Tackling the Taliban?” Asian Survey 50:112–26.
O’Hanlon, Michael, and Bruce Riedel. 2011. “Plan A-Minus for Afghanistan.” Washington Quarterly 34:123–32. (accessed May 2011).
Peters, Gretchen. 2010. Seeds of Terror: How Drugs, Thugs, and Crime Are Reshaping the Afghan War. New York: Picador.
Petraeus, David H. 2011. “Statement of General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army Commander International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. March 16. House Armed Services Committee on Afghanistan.
Prados, John. 2009. “The AfPak Paradox.” Foreign Policy in Focus, April 1. Accessed May 1, 2011. http://www.fpif.org/articles/the_afpak_paradox.
Rashid, Ahmed. 2009. “Pakistan on the Brink.” New York Review of Books, June 11. Accessed May 13, 2011. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jun/.
Shah, Aqil. 2011. “Getting the Military Out of Pakistani Politics.” Foreign Affairs 90:69–82.
Staniland, Paul. 2011. “Caught in the Muddle: America’s Pakistan Strategy.” Washington Quarterly 34:133–48.
Tahir, Muhammad. 2011. “Lack of Afghan Political Strategy Worrisome as West Prepares to Relinquish Security.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 10. Accessed May 24, 2011. http://www.rferl.org/content/afghan_political_strategy_news_analysis/2333645.html.
Waraich, Omar. 2009. “How a US Aid Package to Pakistan Could Threaten Zardari.” Time, October 8. Accessed May 14, 2011. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1929306,00.html.
The White House. 2009a. “Remarks by the President on a New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.” March 27. Accessed May 16, 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-a-New-Strategy-for-Afghanistan-and-Pakistan/.
The White House. 2009b. “Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” December 1. Accessed May 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-address-nation-way-forward-afghanistan-and-pakistan.
Woodward, Bob. 2010. Obamas Wars. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Worden, Scott. 2010. “Afghanistan: An Election Gone Awry.” Journal of Democracy 21:11–25.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2012 Bahram M. Rajaee and Mark J. Miller
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Green, D.M. (2012). Transition to the Endgame. In: Rajaee, B.M., Miller, M.J. (eds) National Security under the Obama Administration. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137010476_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137010476_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-29744-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-01047-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)