The Role of International Relation in the Context of Afghanistan War 2001 - Essay Example

The United States attacked Afghanistan to safeguard its interest against terrorist activities by exercising its power and military dominance. It was based on a realistic approach to handling evil and dreadful activities. The discussion will highlight the importance of international relations in international politics by discussing international relations theories in the context of the Afghanistan War, 2001. This will also help in ascertaining the role of international relations theories in assessing and analysing national and international situations leading to conflicts. INTRODUCTION International relation often plays an important role in studying the relationship between two countries along with defining and understanding their policies pertaining to various factors.

International relations are driven by international theories that have been discussed and analysed critically in the following part of the discussion. The discussion aims at assessing and analysing the Afghanistan War 2001 by relating it with various international relations theories. International relation theories can be defined as a systematic and critical assessment of international relations based on wide arrays of factors and variables like power, dominance, sources, resources, economy and social environments (Dougherty, Pfaltzqraff, 1996).

The Afghanistan War was initiated in the year 2001 to retaliate for the 9/11 bombings and international terrorism (Cronin, Ludes, 2004). There are various dimensions of the War that needs to be discussed in a logical manner to ascertain the dimensions of the conflict and underpinning of international theories. Some of the dimensions include regional, ethnic, religious and economic dimensions. International relations have been a significant field of study from an early period of time but started taking an individual identity in the early 20th century when academicians and countries started understanding its importance and worth in defining the relationship between countries (Christopher, Koontz, 2008).

International relations are based on political issues and often decide the political and personal relationship between two countries in a significant manner (Baylis, Smith, Owens, 2011). The discussion aims at underpinning international relations as a theory along with associating it with various dimensions pertaining to the Afghanistan War of 2001. The idea is to highlight the conflict along with linking it with international relation theories in order to ascertain the dimension of the chosen theory in a critical way.

The next part of the discussion presents an overview of the Afghanistan War 2001. Brief Overview of the Afghanistan War 2001 and International Relation The War in Afghanistan started in early 2001 when the United States, United Kingdom and Australia attacked Afghanistan to free it from the rule and dominance of the Taliban. The attack was based on September 11 attacks that affected too many lives and business activities in and around the United States (Sageman, 2004). Afghanistan and neighboring states have been considered as the base of al Qaeda that has been the prime reason for terrorist attacks in and around the world.

The United States wants to cut the power of the Taliban along with creating a democratic Afghanistan. The move can be considered as a global initiative to fight against terrorist activities but at the same time, the war has affected thousands of people who never wished to witness carnage, pain and agony (Mingst, Karen, Ivan, 2010).