Rethinking International Relations theories in the light of the US failure in Afghanistan. An eclectic materialist view

Abstract

The interest of this research lies in rethinking theories of International Relations in light of the US failure in Afghanistan. It is not an exhaustive analysis of the conflict itself, but an attempt to understand the conflict from (neo)liberal, (neo)realist and critical theories. My conclusion is twofold, on the one hand I propose and argue that, just as (neo)liberalism and (neo)realism are ultimately based on a kind of epistemological and ontological eclecticism when planning actions in international politics, emancipatory critical theories should opt for a critical materialist eclecticism – beyond idealistic exceptions– in order to overcome the theoretical-práxico fractionalism of social movements and subaltern states; On the other hand, I affirm that the failure of the US in Afghanistan and the advent of the Taliban was due, among other things –permanent insecurity, widespread corruption and malpractice by the occupying troops– to the ignorance of the cultural subjectivity of the Afghan population, which revolves around Islam and its irrationalist precepts.