The Development And Evolution Of American Policy To Afghanistan In The Period Of Cold War

Afghanistan is "almost in the center of the Asia continent", and its geographical position has great strategic significance. So Afghan has been the competed target and stage of great powers. The Soviet-Afghan war in 1980s and the terrorists attack against U.S. made Afghan be the focus of the people's attention.In the period of the cold war, the two superpowers-America and Soviet-had been competing in Afghanistan for about forty years. The Soviet-Afghan war was the climax of the competition. America took the advantage of this opportunity to counterattack the Soviets' expansion by supporting the Muslim guerrilla. In order to find out the American goal in Afghanistan, the history of American policies to Afghanistan must be in investigated, and on the basis of many scholar's research, the author tries to study completely and systematically the American policies to Afghan over the period of the cold war.The paper consists of five parts:The first part is on the American policies to Afghan before the Second World War. The author reviews the development and evolution of the American policy, the development of the bilateral relations and the impression of each other.The second part is to research the American policies, especially the Truman government's policy, to Afghan in the early period of the cold war. Disturbed by the competition in Europe and the Korean War, Truman did not regard Afghan as an important country.The third part-the American policies to Afghan from 1950s to 1970s-is the major content. This part mainly studied the American policies over the period from president Eisenhower to president Ronald Reagan. In this period, each president had his special policy, and there were not only continuity but also difference among these policies. At the same time, it was in this period that the triangle relations of America, Russia and Afghan were formed. The American major objective-maintaining the status of Afghan as a neutrality and buffer state-was determined in this period, too.The forth part is on the American policies to Afghan during the Soviet-Afghan war. Because of the war, the American policy became tougher. And the new Americangoal was to get rid of the influence of Soviet in Afghanistan. America enhanced its intervention in Afghan even at the time when the cold war was over and Russia collapsed.The fifth part is the conclusion. The author considers the following: Afghan benefited from the competition between the two superpowers, but on the other hand, Afghan was harmed by the competition; the American policy to Afghan became more and more aggressive throughout the cold war; the competition in Afghan is only a symbol of the competition in the third world between the two superpowers.