ABSTRACT
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 catapulted Afghanistan into the international spotlight. One of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan by 2001 had been isolated during five years of Taliban rule. The international intervention that followed the attacks initially focused on toppling the Taliban regime, but soon came to centre on post-conflict reconstruction. The political, economic and military starting points facing the international community made the task of rebuilding Afghanistan a challenging endeavour. The intervention in Afghanistan has been predominantly led by the United States (US), but engagement in Afghanistan has also been a foreign policy priority for several European Union (EU) member states. The EU, through its political, economic and civilian instruments, has made a sizeable contribution to Afghanistan's reconstruction. Despite the significant international assistance over the past decade, however, the security situation in Afghanistan has progressively deteriorated, and the credibility of the Kabul government has been shown to be weak. These developments have prompted a series of strategic reviews on the part of the US, whose approach since late 2009 has focused on a counter-insurgency strategy with the aim of progressively reducing troop commitments starting in 2011. In political terms, too, Afghanistan and Pakistan have become US policy priorities, which illustrates the transnational and regional dimensions in stabilizing the country.
