WHAT WENT WRONG? IT'S TIME FOR AN AFTER-ACTION OF THE AFGHANISTAN WAR

摘要

After nearly 20 years, the war in Afghanistan is winding down. Thankfully, there have been no Americans killed in combat operations there for more than a year. For now, it appears unlikely that we will actually withdraw all American troops in May, the deadline set by former President Donald Trump. But President Biden has indicated his desire to have all troops out by 2022 at the latest. Either way, one thing is clear: this is not the outcome any U.S. leaders had hoped for when Operation Enduring Freedom began in October 2001. The U.S. is now negotiating with the Taliban to reach some kind of power-sharing agreement with the fundamentalist thugs who gave safe harbor to Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda henchmen for so many years. The Taliban is bragging publicly about their victory. What went wrong?