THE US NATION-BUILDING AND DEMOCRATIZATION EFFORTS IN AFGHANISTAN IN 2001-2021

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 251 - 266, 30.07.2025

Gabit Zhumatay

Abstract

Drawing upon the relevant literature and declassified documents related to the US war in Afghanistan, the study investigates Washington’s policy of nation- building and its imposition of a Western-style democracy on this war-ravaged nation. The results of the study have shown that despite its political, military and economic preponderance, the US failed to deliver a liberal democratic governance to the Afghan people. The US democratization efforts led to the establishment of a highly corrupt and incompetent puppet regime. The US tried to impose its political system on the country that has historically lacked a strong centralized government and where ethnic, tribal and regional identities and divisions have been deeply entrenched. Thus, the paper provides an in-depth analysis and discussion of American nation-building in Afghanistan, identifying and explaining the underlying reasons for the failures of its democratization efforts.

Keywords

US , Afghanistan , Taliban , Nation building , Democratization

Ethical Statement

This study did not require approval from an ethics committee as it did not involve human participants, animals, or sensitive personal data. All data used in this research were obtained from publicly available sources.

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