We went to Afghanistan in October 2001 to punish al-Qaeda and chastise the Taliban for hosting the mastermind of September 11th.
The Taliban just had to show up for roll-call. And if you ignore the lessons of your last war-lost barely a generation earlier-you are, no matter your fantastic wealth and inherent power, doomed. You lame yourself further when you reduce a complex history to a single inaccurate cliché i.e., “Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires.” If you lack the will to win at all costs and-out of moral cowardice-allow critics to dictate your operational parameters, you might as well stay home. It’s harder still when you cannot realistically define your strategic mission.
It’s hard to win a war when you refuse to understand your enemy.
