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Afghanistan in Americans’ Imagination

This chapter examines how the American public was reintroduced to Afghanistan after the events of 9/11 and how the U.S. broadcast and print media began to frame this “good war” in October 2001. It analyzes the American news media’s relationship with Afghanistan beginning in the 1980s and the reality it has constructed since 2001 about Afghanistan and the conflict. It also reviews U.S. officials’ perceptions about their responsibilities to the press. During these 15 years, the news coverage, especially that of the broadcast news media, was tightly indexed to the degree of White House attention to the war and the intensity of conflict for American soldiers. Yet some American print news agencies, especially the Associated Press, New York Times, and Washington Post, have stayed committed to covering Afghanistan despite decreased American presidential attention.