What was the purpose of America's longest war?

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On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. The Afghan president fled the country. Almost all of Afghanistan is now under Taliban control. It marks the end of an era: America’s longest war is now over, and it lost. And it happened fast, stunning the world and leaving many in the country racing to find an exit.

But even among those surprised by the way the end played out, many knew the war was destined to end badly. According to some experts, the seeds of disaster were planted back at the war’s very beginning.

Ever since the American war in Afghanistan began in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the US government has struggled with answering exactly why the military was there. In the very beginning the goal was relatively clear: to capture the perpetrator of the attacks, Osama bin Laden. But almost immediately, the goals became murkier, and more complicated.

In this video, investigative reporter Azmat Khan and former US ambassador to Afghanistan Michael McKinley explain what the US military was actually doing in Afghanistan, what it got wrong, and why America’s long intervention there is considered a failure.

Some of the sources we used in our reporting:

This report from Brown University’s Cost of War project has good data on how many Afghan civilians have beem killed in airstrikes:
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/f...

The comparison of American attitudes towards the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are from Gallup polls:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1633/ira...
https://news.gallup.com/poll/167471/a...

This annual report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan reconstruction provided us with a lot of information on US money and resources spent on Afghanistan since the start of the war:
https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslear...

The Long War Journal’s maps on Taliban control helped us visualize how they gained ground over time: https://www.longwarjournal.org/mappin...

Other sources that we recommend for understanding this story:

No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban and the War Through Afghan Eyes By Anand Gopal: https://us.macmillan.com/books/978080...

The Whitewashing of the Afghan War by Emran Feroz: https://t.co/5y5UUDNyAl?amp=1

On the ground reporting by Ali M. Latifi: https://t.co/ibN6QeD7yV?amp=1

The Washington Post’s Afghanistan Papers database: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphi...

Ghost Students, Ghost Teachers, Ghost School by Azmat Khan: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/...

We all lost Afghanistan by Michael McKinley: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...

Vox Reporting:

The rapid fall of Afghanistan to Taliban forces, explained by Natasha Ishak: https://www.vox.com/2021/8/15/2262608...
Who are the Taliban now, by Jen Kirby: https://www.vox.com/22626240/taliban-...
Why Biden was so set on withdrawing from Afghanistan, by Andrew Prokop: https://www.vox.com/2021/8/18/2262913...
The history of US intervention in Afghanistan, from the Cold War to 9/11, by Emily Stewart: https://www.vox.com/world/22634008/us...
The US needs to meet its moral obligation to Afghan refugees, by Li Zhou: https://www.vox.com/22627834/afghanis...

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