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

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 1979 Soviet invasion, tracing its evolution and exploring its lasting consequences.

List of contents

Notes for the Reader
Introduction: "A Day of Opportunity"
1. A Game of Hide-and-Seek: The Afghan Pursuit of Diplomatic Relations, 1921-1938
2. "We Have a Rare Opportunity": U.S.-Afghan Relations Amid the World Crisis, 1938-1945
3. Preeminence and Peril: The American Influx and the Coming of the Afghan Cold War, 1945-1952
4. "We Might Be Willing to Take a Chance": The Choice to Contest Afghanistan, 1953-1956
5. Anxious Coexistence: The Aid Contest, 1956-1959
6. The Crisis Era, 1959-1963
7. Reform and Retrenchment, 1963-1968
8. The Fall of the Monarchy, 1968-1973
9. Return to Engagement, 1973-1976
10. The End of Diplomacy, 1977-1979
Conclusion: "Into the Jaws of Catastrophe"
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Notes
List of Archives
Index

About the author

Robert B. Rakove is a lecturer in international relations at Stanford University. He is the author of Kennedy, Johnson, and the Nonaligned World (2012).

Summary

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 1979 Soviet invasion, tracing its evolution and exploring its lasting consequences.

Product details

• Authors: Robert Rakove
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.08.2023
• EAN: 9780231210454
• ISBN: 978-0-231-21045-4
• No. of pages: 488
• Series: Global America
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Afghanistan, HISTORY / Middle East / General, 20th Century, POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / Diplomacy, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Diplomacy, United States of America, USA, Middle Eastern history, History of the Americas, Political science; history