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

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.