Pretty simple question: how was the Taliban able to re-take Afghanistan? After over a decade of American military presence, how was the Taliban even able to survive? How/why did the people of Afghanistan not fight back / prevent the Taliban from taking over?
In: 5
[Anyone talking about Afghanistan needs to read the SIGAR report on exactly what went wrong](https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-21-46-LL.pdf)
The short and highly simplified answer is American policy was more concerned with short-term gains rather than long-term sustainability. From military objectives to infrastructure, America was more concerned with getting something done quick so leaders would look good back home than on being able to pass the baton to the Afghanis. There was a saying I remember hearing but don’t know it’s origin, “We didn’t fight a 20-year war. We fought 20 1-year wars”.
Oh, and the Afghan people did fight back. More Afghani soldiers/police died than US soldiers in Vietnam. To say nothing of the civilian casualties and destroyed infrastructure.
America failed Afghanistan because America was never in it for Afghanistan.
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