U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan

January 13, 2004

Larry Goodson

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Over the past two years, U.S. strategy in Afghanistan has produced laudable successes, including the destruction of the Taliban regime, the assumption of power by the more moderate Karzai government, and the repatriation of over 2 million Afghan refugees from neighboring countries. Afghanistan’s most recent step forward has been the approval of a new constitution by the Loya Jirga this month, which should pave the way for presidential elections later this year. Yet, the situation today in Kabul and across the country remains fractured and fragile. Over the past six months, security has deteriorated significantly, with fully half of the country’s 32 provinces in a state of semi-lawlessness. More...