Affective Foreign Policy

The United States demanded the Taliban hand over Osama Bin Laden, who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States of America.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people and injured thousands at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Still, the American demand was unacceptable according to the Afghan culture due to the tradition of guest rights and looking after guests.

Which meant the Taliban controlled the nation of Afghanistan in 2001 and could not just hand Osama Bin Laden over.

The situation would need to be handled with great delicacy and a great understanding of the culture, particularly the tribal and traditional culture within Afghanistan, which is alien for a Western civilisation like the United States to understand honestly.

According to Rory Stewart, a former Conservative MP who served as a cabinet minister within the United Kingdom’s government and had direct experience in the Middle East when he travelled from Turkey to Pakistan.

If the United States approached the Taliban using different methods than the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan could have been avoided.

But with that stated, the former head of the British Army did state that the 9/11 attacks are best described as a strategic rape which deeply traumatised the United States, and there was no way the USA would have listened to reason at that time.