“We Don’t Negotiate with Terrorists”—Afghanistan, Bargaining, and American Civil–Military Relations

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221077299
• Author: Adam Barsuhn
• Date: 01 October 2023
• Subject Matter: Commentaries

https://doi.org/10.1177_0095327X221077299

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(4) 953 –964

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177_0095327X221077299

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Commentary

1077299AFSXXX10.1177_0095327X221077299Armed Forces & Society XX(X)Barsuhn

research-article2022

“We Don’t Negotiate with

Terrorists”—Afghanistan,

Bargaining, and American

Civil–Military Relations

Adam Barsuhn

1



Abstract

The United States government’s inability to view the conf‌lict with the Taliban through

the lens of the bargaining model of war was a fundamental element of its failure in

Afghanistan. This problem was reinforced by a dysfunctional civil–military relations

shaped by Samuel Huntington’s theory of objective control, resulting in the military

pursuing campaigns of attrition that f‌it its organizational preferences but did not

advance civilian political goals. These issues are evident in three different moments

during the War in Afghanistan where the U.S. failed to seize an opportunity that could

have changed the result of the conf‌lict.

Keywords

Afghanistan, civil–military relations, foreign policy, bargaining model

At the beginning of the 1997 action movie, Air Force One, the United States President

played by Harrison Ford declares to the world, “We will never negotiate with ter-

rorists.”Besides setting up the subsequent drama of the president f‌ighting terrorists on a

plane, the lines represent a core ethos of American foreign policy: the United States will

never give into bullying, cowardly terrorists who attack the weak and innocent.

1

Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Adam Barsuhn, Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, Building 607, Cullum Road,

West Point, NY 10996, USA.

Email: adam.barsuhn@westpoint.edu