U.S. policy towards Afghanistan

Until recently, U.S. policy towards Afghanistan has been defined by relations with other states and non-state actors, but nation building has become part of that mission, in cooperation with the NATO International Security Assistance Force, with the approval of the United Nations. Nevertheless, Afghanistan remains a failed state, a source of much of the world's opium, and a potential sanctuary for trans-national terrorists.

Considerable changes in policy, if not operations, came with the Obama administration.