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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Days of Opportunity: The United States and Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion

Days of Opportunity: The United States and Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion

Rakove, Robert

Paperback

Series: Global America

20th Century United States HistoryGeneral Middle Eastern HistoryInternational Relations

ISBN10: 0231210450
ISBN13: 9780231210454
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: Aug 8 2023
Pages: 488
Weight: 1.41
Height: 1.18 Width: 5.98 Depth: 8.90
Language: English

Honorable Mention, 2025 Charles H. Norchi Prize, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Long before the 1979 Soviet invasion, the United States was closely concerned with Afghanistan. For much of the twentieth century, American diplomats, policy makers, businesspeople, and experts took part in the Afghan struggle to modernize, delivered vital aid, and involved themselves in Kabul's conflicts with its neighbors. For their own part, many Afghans embraced the potential benefits of political and commercial ties with the United States. Yet these relationships ultimately helped make the country a Cold War battleground.

Robert B. Rakove sheds new light on the little-known and often surprising history of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan from the 1920s to the Soviet invasion, tracing its evolution and exploring its lasting consequences. Days of Opportunity chronicles the battle for influence in Kabul, as Americans contended with vigorous communist bloc competition and the independent ambitions of successive Afghan governments. Rakove examines the phases of peaceful Cold War competition, including development assistance, cultural diplomacy, and disaster relief. He demonstrates that Americans feared the loss of Afghanistan to Soviet influence--and were never simply bystanders, playing pivotal roles in the country's political life. The ensuing collision of U.S., Soviet, and Afghan ambitions transformed the country--and ultimately led it, and the world, toward calamity.

Harnessing extensive research in U.S. and international archives, Days of Opportunity unveils the remarkable and tragic history of American involvement in Afghanistan.

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