AFGHANISTAN: UNE SORTIE DE GUERRE ALEATOIRE

In: Politique internationale: pi, Heft 140, S. 1-2

Abstract

International coalition troops will pull out of Afghanistan in 2014, 13 years after the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom. The achievements of these 13 years are admittedly mediocre. Often conducted outside international law and marked by blunders and abuse of detainees, the War on Terror - far from 'winning hearts and minds' as America's strategists had hoped - has instead resulted in an enduring hatred of foreign troops on the part of most Afghans. All the more so because the intervention also installed the corrupt regime of Hamid Karzai in the seat of power in Kabul. State-building has failed in a country where ethnic and religious affiliations are stronger than ever on the ground, and where the Taliban and the warlords rule. Drug production has never been higher. And while AI Qaeda has been pushed back, it has certainly not spoken its last. Would it be an exaggeration to call this a fiasco? Adapted from the source document.