The central theme of this book is the pivotal role that 'freedom' has played in US foreign policy towards Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion in 1979 - a story that has not previously been told. Andrew Hammond draws on extensive archival research and over 80 interviews with figures such as former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of State George Shultz and the current Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins to offer a radically new perspective on US foreign policy towards Afghanistan.

By comparing and contrasting the discourses of freedom employed towards Afghanistan during the Cold War and the Global War on Terror, Hammond explores what he terms the paradox of freedom: how a nation formerly lauded, an example to America and humanity, found itself to be an object of fear and pity, and symbolically linked with a threat to freedom.