International studies, Vol. XI No. 1, 2011.
Review article
US Politics towards Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Context of Global War on Terrorism: The Comparison of the Approaches of Two US Presidential Administrations
Robert Mikac
orcid.org/0000-0003-4568-6299
; Internal Affairs Ministry, Republic of Croatia
Abstract
Larger or smaller, actual or "frozen", wars throughout the world notwithstanding, Afghanistan and Pakistan represent the key battlefield of our time and will determine the continuance of the 21 st century. Not only did the attack on Afghanistan start the long and unpredictable '' global war on terrorism", and the fact that the only remaining world superpower is leading the allied forces in the attack on the Taliban and Al-Qaida in one of the world's poorest countries, Afghanistan, but the conflict, through time, has also moved to the Pakistan 's territory, which is, more and more, being transformed from an ally to an object in the conflict. Also, the additional significance of this war lies in the fact that it has, through time, assumed the form of the dominantly counterinsurgency conflict, which will be a dominant form of warfare in the 21 st century. Global war on terrorism on the Afghan soil has all the characteristics of an asymmetrical conflict from the very beginning, and has experienced several changes in strategy and approach, where neither side
managed to achieve predominance, and the possible ending is unpredictable. That is why the goal of this article isto explore the development and reach of the official US politics towards Afghanistan and Pakistan, because the US determines the process of the allied operations and the dynamics of the conflict. The analysis of two different presidential administrations (Bush 's and Obama's) towards the key determinants of this conflict is especially interesting.
Keywords
US; Afghanistan; Pakistan; global war on terrorism; insurgents; counterinsurgency doctrine; Taliban; Al-Qaida
Hrčak ID:
291598
URI
Publication date:
31.5.2011.
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