Twenty years…and for what?
With the fall of Kabul, the war in Afghanistan comes to an ignominious end, the country exactly as it was when we invaded in 2001: in the grip of fanatical Islamists who rape and persecute women, practice medieval punishment and harbor terrorists who plot to destroy the Western world.
The families of the 2,312 American military personnel who died there, and the 20,066 who were wounded have every right to feel bitterness and anger.
Yes, we killed Osama bin Laden (in Pakistan). But otherwise, over three administrations, we barely articulated a mission beyond the “defeat” of al Qaeda. The Taliban were never vanquished. The Afghan army crumbled. The democracy we helped build was ground into dust as the president fled the nation.