Strategy's Relevance to the War in Afghanistan

Using a methodology consisting of identifying the policy and associated strategy for the initial Afghanistan war period compared to the policy and associated strategy for the current Afghanistan war, the study identifies strategic composition derived from policy. The study also explores the intervening years between the two strategies as a necessary link to understand how the United States went from an origination period to the current period. The study finds two distinct policies and two distinct strategies. The first strategy focused on using the military instrument of national power. The current approach attempts to use all instruments of national power. Both periods of policy and strategy; however, address the same core United States interest. The interest identified in the study is protecting and pursuing American security. Recommendations for additional research include identifying how historical United States strategies link to policy and whether or not the operational environment shapes strategies. This is in contrast to the accepted approach that indicates policy informs strategy and strategy incorporates a balance between ends, ways, and means while considering risk to achieve the policy's stated objective.