The Unfinished War in Afghanistan 2001-2014

摘要

The United States entered Afghanistan by providing air power and Special Forces to the embattled Afghan Northern Alliance. The Northern Alliance was already supported by the regional powers of Iran, India, China, and Russia. The United States quickly came to working agreements and exchanges with these regional powers. They provided information and brokered basing agreements with neighboring countries, and India even authorized military overflights for the purpose of defeating the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The ethnic-Pashtun Taliban government was actively supported by another regional power, a long-time United States ally, Pakistan. With the collapse of the Taliban government, the dynamics of these regional agreements changed. Although the Northern Alliance (primarily ethnic Tajiks, Hazara, and Uzbeks) was the victor, Pakistan pushed the United States for the greater participation of ethnic Pashtuns in the new government. As the United States reached out to Pakistan, it distanced itself from the other regional powers that had aided it in the rapid overthrow of the Taliban. Today, as the United States, NATO, and other coalition allies are leaving Afghanistan, the regional powers are concerned about the condition of a post-war Afghanistan and its impact on their interests. Vishal Chandra has taken a good look at the recent history of Afghanistan and its neighbors and what may lie ahead.