U.S. War in Afghanistan

The chaos of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan has become politicized. But the blame stretches back decades, through both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The terror attacks on September 11, 2001, seemingly changed the trajectory of Afghanistan’s history. But today, the country in many ways is back to the status quo ante – except for the thousands of lives lost to war. 

The United States “overestimated the power that the U.S. military could bring to bear in changing Afghanistan.”

"Getting into another warlike situation with the Taliban is unlikely to improve the plight of ordinary Afghans or the nature of Afghanistan’s reality today."

Journalist Torpekai Amarkhel was among dozens of asylum seekers who died when their boat capsized near Italy. Her story encapsulates how the world has failed the Afghan people.

Why millions of dollars in international aid – much of it from the U.S. – failed to achieve lasting change for Afghanistan’s women.

The U.S. is far from blameless, but it is not solely responsible for the Taliban's rapid takeover.

The Taliban’s blitz to power in Afghanistan has left them in possession of a veritable arsenal of U.S. weaponry intended for the defunct government. Are captured weapons a strategic game-changer?

While the disaster unfolding in Afghanistan will have many negative consequences, it will not by itself cause the end of U.S. strategic pre-eminence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The war in Vietnam showed the abject failure of nation-building – and the imperial logic behind such efforts. But the U.S. repeated its mistake in Afghanistan.

Subsequent flights are due to bring more of the roughly 700 applicants who are farthest along in the process of getting visas.

Afghans who assisted U.S. forces are eligible for a special immigrant visa, but the process, hogtied by legislation and reporting requirements, has been backlogged for a decade.