ABSTRACT
This chapter explores President George W. Bush's war in Afghanistan in three sections. It begins by outlining what his administration sought to achieve, its assumptions and how this shaped the initial mission. The chapter looks at how this war plan evolved, identifying some of the most pressing questions facing policymakers, before examining the impact of two critical relationships – with Pakistan and the multinational North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led 'coalition of the willing'. It evaluates its overall performance, asking what could have done better and what factors were largely beyond the gift of policymakers to alter meaningfully, before concluding with a final assessment of Bush's war in Afghanistan. The basic aim of a stable, terrorist-denying Afghanistan remained constant during Bush's presidency but his administration's strategy for realizing this end state changed a great deal. After 9/11, President Bush could have approached Afghanistan in a number of different ways.
