Ankara Universitesi ILEF Dergisi

Abstract

The United States, through its military occupation, has been directly involved
in Afghanistan for over fourteen years now. Under President George W. Bush,
the U.S. intervention was described not only as part of the so-called “War on
Terror,” it was also defined essentially as a triumphal “mission civilisatrice”
that insisted on “nation-building” and “creating democratic institutions” in the
war-ravaged country. President Barack Obama – who had once characterized
the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan as “a war of necessity” – has withdrawn
the bulk of U.S. troops from the country and has been outlining, at least in
public, a seemingly different course of action: extricating the U.S. involvement
in the Afghan theatre by training and revamping Afghan security forces to
stand up against the Taliban insurgency, that is, in essence, “Afghanizing” the
Afghan conflict.