ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the international assistance to post-Taliban statebuilding in Afghanistan with a focus on international economic and military assistance. The central argument is that this assistance has had negative as well as positive effects; together they create severe internal tensions in the statebuilding project itself. For all the achievements cited in removing the Taliban and launching an ambitious policy of reconstruction and modernization, the intervention in 2001 and subsequent aid strategies have also created a rentier state that is totally dependent upon foreign funds and military forces for its survival. Furthermore, this state has weak legitimacy and limited capacity to utilize aid effectively, and it faces a mounting insurgency. In this situation, the premises and structure of the statebuilding project invites critical examination.
