The US history of collecting — and dropping — client states is grim
Afghanistan is not the first time that a regime dramatically collapsed once America withdrew its military support.
David Sylvan is professor of international relations and political science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He is the author of U.S. Foreign Policy in Perspective: Clients, Enemies, and Empire, as well as numerous articles on intervention, decision-making, and other issues in international and domestic politics.
Afghanistan is not the first time that a regime dramatically collapsed once America withdrew its military support.