A critical assessment of United States of America post-cold war strategies to maintain its global position: The case of Afghanistan.

Abstract

The major thrust of this study is to analyse the impact brought about by the end of the Cold War which precluded United States unilateralist tendencies in relation to its interest in Afghanistan and how it has managed to fight terrorism around the world. The study examines the effects uni-polar system characterized after Cold War and how United States has maintained its status core as the lone superpower. It further highlights the historical development of the Cold War and how it has had an impact on global politics. The study pays particular attention to the current developments of strategies employed by United States to maintain its global position and sustain its hegemony throughout the globe. The research study draws attention on how the United States has pursued its competing grand strategies in the aftermath of the Cold War and 9/ 11 attacks. The study uses quantitative and qualitative research methods as key informant interviews, Documentary search and Case studies to assess the impact of United States global dominance in relation to other regional hot spots where it has vital national interest. It seeks to ascertain whether the relationship is real or it is perceived through conducting a comprehensive empirical research. The Authors who have documented on the subject of strategic studies simultaneously concur on the notion that states with high proportion of national instruments of power are inclined to dominate the globe. The literature review highlights the idea that the characteristic and nature of the international system after the demise of the Soviet Union has catapulted the United States to be a lone superpower whose interest are global hegemony and dominance in world affairs. The authors further coincide that United States policy had redefined new threats to its national security interests after Cold War and these included extremist movements especially terrorism, nuclear proliferation by rogue states, rise of emerging powers such as China among other threats such as climate change. The major findings on the field validate the hypothesis uni-polarity being the absence of a peer competitor to the US had propelled United States to dominate global relations between and among states whose military, technological and economic superiority has made it to ‘ command the commons’. The majority of the respondents corresponded to the view that there is a close relationship between post-Cold War nature and characteristic of the international system to United States global hegemony. The research findings confirmed that post-Cold War international order have shaped political relationships between United States and Afghanistan.