ABSTRACT
During the late summer of2001, few Americans gave much thought to Afghanistan or the Taliban regime. l The administration of George W. Bush was just beginning to fully settle into office after the contentious 2000 presidential election and the defection of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords which gave control of the US Senate to the opposition Democratic Party. The focus of the Bush administration was on domestic policies, including the recent passage of tax reform legislation. Its key foreign policy concern involved an ongoing dispute over national ballistic missile defense and the 1972 USSoviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
