"afghanistan And Pakistan" Counter-terrorism Strategy Research In The United States

The "9-11" attacks have transformed the national security landscape of the United States of America. Under the lead of President George W. Bush, a counter-terrorism war to fight Al-Qaeda was launched worldwide. From Afghanistan to Iraq, the targets of the counter-terrorism war were broadened continuously. In the beginning of the war, everything seemed to be under control and went smoothly. The Taliban was quickly crashed not long after the invasion of the Allied Troops, and the Saddam’s regime was overthrown without much difficulty. However, while the counter-terrorism war was continuing and deepening, the United States of America found itself fallen in a dilemma which it could not get out. The security situation was deteriorating around Afghanistan and Pakistan. At he same time, the global financial crisis, triggered by the subprime mortgage in2008, weakened the U.S. economy greatly. As a result, the American couldn’t afford Bush’s counter-terrorism policy any longer. After taking office in2009, President-elect Barack Obama began to adjust the foreign policy regarding the concept of "smart power" as his promise during the campaign. Speaking of counter-terrorism, President Obama introduced a new approach, which shifts the focus to the East and brings all resources intensively to Afghanistan and Pakistan to implement counter-terrorism measures. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration coined a version of "overseas emergency military operations" as the replacement of the vague concept of "counter-terrorism war" and referred the counter-terrorism strategy in accordance with the specific region. It resulted in the counter-terrorism strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, commonly known as the "AfPak" strategy, which designated Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single theater of operations. The core of the new strategy regarded these two nations having a single, dominant political and military situation that required a joint policy objective to smash Al-Qaeda and its shelters in the region. The term reflected the Obama Administration’s strategy of using a unified policy for dealing with the two countries as a part of the strategy pertaining to the War on Terror, in order to seek the geo-strategic position in this region. Other than the unilateralist strategy during the Bush Administration, President Obama emphasizes multilateralism and international cooperation, as well as the combination of military and civilian approaches, which constitute the main contents of the "AfPak" strategy. Based on the experiences and lessons over years war of Afghanistan, the new strategy seemed to be clear and practicable. However, the prospects of the strategy are unnecessarily encouraging because of a series of uncertainties in Afghanistan and its neighboring areas, together with the complexity of cooperation within the regional powers. This paper aims at a comprehensive analysis of the "AfPak" strategy by exploring its origin, contents, seeking to assess its challenges according to the Realism of International Relations.