The Long Road To Peace: Navigating The Steps To End The Afghanistan War

The Afghanistan War was the longest war in American history, lasting 20 years. The war began in 2001, following the September 11 attacks, and consisted of three phases. The first phase was to topple the Taliban, which was achieved in two months. The second phase, from 2002 to 2008, was marked by a U.S. strategy of defeating the Taliban and rebuilding core institutions of the Afghan state. The third phase, which began in 2008, was a shift to classic counterinsurgency doctrine, with a focus on protecting the population from Taliban attacks and reintegrating insurgents into Afghan society.

The U.S. and its allies went into Afghanistan to ensure that the country would not become a safe haven for international terrorists again. Over the last two decades, there have been no terrorist attacks on allied soil from Afghanistan. However, the war resulted in vast spending, with over $2 trillion spent in Afghanistan, and a heavy loss of life, with some 2,400 American service members killed and more than 20,000 others wounded.

In April 2021, NATO decided to withdraw all Allied troops from Afghanistan within a few months. The U.S. ended its military involvement in Afghanistan in August 2021, with the last U.S. military forces departing the country. The war resulted in a military stalemate, and the Taliban retook control of the country.

Despite the vast resources and lives spent, the U.S. and its allies were unable to achieve their goals of defeating the Taliban and rebuilding Afghanistan. The war effort was hampered by a lack of clear and achievable goals, insufficient understanding of the local context, and a focus on short-term political expediency rather than long-term strategic objectives.

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to prevent it from becoming a safe haven for international terrorists

The Taliban had declined to extradite bin Laden and ignored demands to shut down terrorist bases or extradite other suspected terrorists. In response, the US and UK launched Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7, 2001. The invasion effort made rapid progress, and the coalition captured Kabul on November 13, toppling the Taliban by December 17. However, most members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban were not captured, and many escaped into neighbouring Pakistan or retreated to remote regions within Afghanistan.

To prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorists again, NATO Allies and partner countries deployed military forces to the country under a United Nations (UN) Security Council mandate. This mandate ensured that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for terrorist attacks on NATO member countries. Over the course of nearly 20 years, there were no terrorist attacks on Allied soil launched from Afghanistan.

In February 2020, the US and the Taliban signed an agreement on the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan by May 2021. However, in 2021, the Taliban offensive resulted in the collapse of the US-backed government, and the Taliban captured several provincial capitals before entering Kabul unopposed. This led to a rushed evacuation effort to get American citizens, embassy personnel, allies, and Afghans who had worked with US forces out of the country.

The US and its allies toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan began on 7 October 2001, with air strikes on Taliban targets. The US relied on the Northern Alliance, a coalition of anti-Taliban militias, and anti-Taliban Pashtuns in the south of the country. The CIA, US and British special forces provided arms, equipment and advice to the Afghans.

The Taliban regime unravelled rapidly. On 9 November 2001, the Taliban lost Mazar-e-Sharif to forces loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek military leader. Over the following week, Taliban strongholds crumbled after coalition and Northern Alliance offensives. On 13 November, the Taliban retreated from Kabul without a fight.

The largest city in southern Afghanistan and the Taliban's spiritual home, Kandahar, fell on 6 December, marking the end of Taliban power. Anti-Taliban figures then convened at a UN-sponsored conference in Bonn, Germany, where Hamid Karzai was selected to lead the country on an interim basis.

The US and its allies failed to capture Osama bin Laden in the December 2001 battle of Tora Bora

• The US military's reliance on Afghan militias to safeguard the passageways out of the Tora Bora mountains. These militias were unreliable, lacked proper equipment, and were not as motivated as the US to capture bin Laden. They refused to fight at night, allowing al-Qaeda to reoccupy ground that had been won during the day.
• The US military's refusal to deploy more troops to the region. The US military was concerned about a potential anti-American backlash and did not want to risk too many casualties.
• The US military's overconfidence that they would be able to capture bin Laden without deploying more troops.
• The US military's failure to properly communicate with their Afghan allies. The Afghan militias were not properly trained and did not have the same incentives as the US to conduct the operation with dogged persistence.
• The US military's failure to seal off all escape routes. They relied on Pakistani forces to block bin Laden's escape, but these forces were ill-equipped and lacked the same incentives as the US.

The US and its allies shifted their focus to Iraq, allowing the Taliban to regroup

The US-led war in Afghanistan began in 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The US and its allies shifted their focus to Iraq, allowing the Taliban to regroup. This shift in focus was influenced by several factors, including the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, the belief that Iraq was the chief US threat in the "war on terror", and the perception that Iraq was a more pressing concern due to its possession of weapons of mass destruction.

In the years following the US invasion of Afghanistan, the security situation in the country continued to deteriorate. The Taliban, the target of the initial US military offensive, had been officially ousted from power, but they gradually regrouped and re-established themselves in the country. The Taliban's resurgence was a significant concern, as they posed a growing threat to the security of the Afghan people and the Pakistani people, plotting new attacks against the United States.

At the same time, the focus of the "war on terror" shifted to Iraq, particularly following the mention of Saddam Hussein's Iraq as a chief US threat. The US believed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which posed a significant concern to national security. As a result, military and intelligence resources were redirected from Afghanistan to Iraq, impacting the war effort in Afghanistan.

Barack Obama, during his 2008 presidential campaign, acknowledged the urgency of the situation in Afghanistan and proposed withdrawing US combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of his inauguration. He intended to shift the military's attention from Iraq to Afghanistan, emphasizing the need to address the deteriorating security situation and the resurgent Taliban. Obama stressed his strong commitment to Afghanistan's security and economic development, urging the Afghan government to take more action against corruption and improve the rule of law.

The shift in focus to Iraq allowed the Taliban to regroup and gain strength. They took advantage of the reduced military pressure and utilized the mountainous terrain to hide and plan new attacks. The US and its allies' initial success in ousting the Taliban from power was undermined by their ability to regroup and adapt, exploiting any gaps left by shifts in military strategy and resource allocation.

The US and its allies failed to adequately fund and support the reconstruction of Afghanistan

The reconstruction of Afghanistan was a key part of ending the war in the country. However, the US and its allies have been criticized for failing to adequately fund and support this process. This criticism includes the fact that the US Congress appropriated only $38 billion in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2009, far less than what was needed for a Marshall Plan-like effort.

There was a fundamental lack of understanding of the Afghan context, which led to poorly tailored efforts. US officials often lacked crucial information about the country's social, economic, and political dynamics, leading to misguided policies. For example, the US attempted to impose Western technocratic models on Afghan economic institutions, which were ill-suited to the local context. Similarly, security forces were trained in advanced weapon systems that they could not maintain or even understand. The US also tried to impose a formal rule of law on a country that addressed the vast majority of its disputes through informal means, showing a disconnect from the reality on the ground.

Cultural and social barriers were often not understood or adequately addressed, particularly regarding supporting women and girls. This lack of understanding hindered progress and exacerbated existing challenges. The US-led intervention was further undermined by widespread human rights abuses committed by both US and Afghan government forces. These abuses sabotaged the overall enterprise and damaged the legitimacy of the reconstruction effort.

The failure to effectively rebuild Afghanistan was, therefore, a result of insufficient funding, a lack of cultural understanding, and the damaging impact of human rights abuses. These factors combined to hinder the reconstruction process and contributed to the ongoing challenges faced by the country.

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