ABSTRACT
Operations by the International Security Assistance Force against al-Qaeda supporters in Afghanistan were the most prominent aspect of the American and American-allied 'War on Terrorism' that followed September 11, 2001, but they were far from the only moves. Furthermore, the claims of a Revolution in Military Affairs justified the cut in the American army: from 18 divisions in 1990 to 10 in 2003, part of a reduction of about a third in the active-duty force in the 1990s that was a response to the rising real cost of personnel. In 2003, the Americans focused on Iraq – a definite and defiant target with regular armed forces – rather than on the more intangible struggle with terrorism, which challenged Western conventions of war-making. The election of Barack Obama as American President in 2008 resulted in a shift in focus from Iraq to Afghanistan.
