In nine short days, Taliban forces destroyed two decades of American armed statebuilding in Afghanistan. This was no isolated failure. Over the last century, almost every attempt to intervene militarily to prop up or reconstruct an allied state has seen similar dismal outcomes – why?
In this new book, Adam Wunische offers answers to this fundamental question. Exploring the factors that worked against success in America’s doomed armed statebuilding mission in Afghanistan, he identifies forces common to other unsuccessful U.S. missions, from Vietnam to Colombia, Haiti to Iraq. These forces, he argues, inherently favor insurgencies, forfeit sustainability for quick results, and create dependencies and corruption – all of which undermine the goal of building a state that can stand on its own. Not only that, but most of these forces are pervasive and uncontrollable: meaning any future attempts at armed statebuilding will likely also be unwinnable, with costs and consequences far outpacing interests and benefits. Faced with a future likely dominated by proxy wars, Wunische offers a novel way forward to prevent the U.S. from chasing new wars that it is destined to lose.
