Twenty Years of War in Afghanistan: An After Action

After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, the United States has pulled out all military forces. The pullout was a debacle. Thirteen Americans tragically lost their lives due to improper planning.  There is no proper way to describe the withdrawal from Afghanistan other than one of the worst foreign policy failures in American history. But there were many years of groundwork leading up to the failure. Now lessons must be learned from our experience in Afghanistan. America needs to study them quick. My guest, Mike Nelson, quotes the late, great Charles Krauthammer who said, “Decline is a choice.” We must choose to be better, and we can start by learning from 20 years of war. My interview with Mike is a crucial step to learning from the last 20 years. In doing so, we firmly commit to restoring American national pride and strategic competence.  

About the guest. Mike Nelson is a Visiting Fellow at George Mason University’s National Security Institute and an Army Special Forces veteran with multiple deployments to Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).

Topics Covered: 

- The rise of the Taliban in the 1990s after the Soviet Union’s defeat

- The Taliban’s relationship with Al-Qaeda and the influence of the Haqqani Network

- How the U.S. got involved in Afghanistan and why the U.S. decided to overthrow the Taliban

- Task Force Dagger and how early success was counterproductive

- Why some of the democracy efforts failed. Mike says, “We confused democracy with legitimacy.”

- How lessons from the Iraq War were misapplied in Afghanistan specifically the “Surge” strategy

- Why negotiations with the Taliban were flawed from the start

- How Pakistan enabled the Taliban and worked against U.S. interests 

- The power dynamics in the region that include Russian and Chinese interests 

- The future of Afghanistan to include how terrorist groups might use the country for operations

- Strategy at the national level and how it has failed and will continue to fail unless change occurs 

Additional Readings and Resources: 

Mike’s article here “It Was the Best of COIN, It Was the Worst of COIN” 

Soldiers of God

Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics Book 45)

How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle

How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle

Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism

Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism

The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One