Description
Book SynopsisRobert 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.
Trade ReviewThrough expansive multinational archival research, Robert B. Rakove weaves together local, national, and international threads that shaped the history of modern Afghanistan and its engagement with the world.
Days of Opportunity is a compelling account of how the nation came to be embroiled in U.S.-Soviet Cold War conflict and the terrible costs to the Afghan people. -- Mary L. Dudziak, author of
War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its ConsequencesIn a narrative built on rich detail about individual diplomatic actors and their alliances, rivalries, and networks, Rakove offers tremendous insight on the extent, complexities, and contingencies of the Afghan-American bilateral relationship during the interwar and Cold War eras. -- Shah Mahmoud Hanifi, author of
Connecting Histories in AfghanistanIn
Days of Opportunity, Rakove uncovers the largely overlooked history of U.S.-Afghanistan relations across the twentieth century. Through expert storytelling and meticulous archival research, he details the two countries’ long, promising, yet frustrating relationship during the decades preceding the Soviet invasion. Rakove gives Afghanistan the attention it deserves as a critical player in twentieth-century international politics. -- Elisabeth Leake, author of
Afghan Crucible: The Soviet Invasion and the Making of Modern AfghanistanThis outstanding study offers the most comprehensive exposition and analysis to date of the Afghan-American relationship through the end of the 1970s. Based on extensive archival research, it provides essential context for anyone who seeks to understand the complex historical roots of America's failures in Afghanistan. -- Robert McMahon, author of
Dean Acheson and the Creation of an American World OrderTable of ContentsNotes 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
