Buying Hearts & Minds in Afghanistan: U.S. efforts to maintain imperial credibility

Published on Z Magazine in December 2003 Volume 16 Number 12

The Christian Science Monitor (September 8, 2003) calls it “Nation Building, Redoubled.” A desperate new push by the Bush administration to bring positive attention to its campaign in Afghanistan features approximately $12.2 billion in additional spending for fiscal year 2004. The new spending package was approved by the U.S. Congress on October 17, a few days after the UN Security Council ratified a NATO agreement to expand the International Security …