ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter explains the rationale behind the explanatory lenses that makes up the framework of the book, the sources it is based on, the methods used and the structure. The explanatory framework consists of five factors that are conditioned by commissioned questions from a majority of the Danish parliament, but they are also the outcome of a thorough review of explanations in existing literature and reports. The chapter shows that our delineation of the five factors reflects that this is a book, the primary aim of which is to deepen our understanding of the decisions in which Denmark participated through NATO and as an American ally. The chapter also outlines why we have chosen to view Afghanistan as a condition; that is, a reality that Denmark among others chose to intervene in. We explain the necessity to avoid Afghanistan being seen as an explanation for the failure, as little can be learned from drawing an exotic picture of distant populations that did not desire democracy or were unwilling to fight ‘even though we tried to teach them’.
