There's over two thousand pages of previously unpublished documents and notes from interviews here showing that the U.S. government deliberately misled Americans about the progress of the war in Afghanistan and proffered misleading and dishonest claims that senior officials knew were untrue.
Some U.S. officials wanted to use the war to turn Afghanistan into a democracy.
Christopher Kolenda, an Army colonel who deployed to Afghanistan several times and advised three U.S. generals in charge of the war, said that the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai had "Self-organized into a kleptocracy" by 2006 - and that U.S. officials failed to recognize the lethal threat it posed to their strategy.
"Our biggest single project, sadly and inadvertently, of course, may have been the development of mass corruption," said former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in Kabul in 2002 and from 2011 to 2012.
No one seems to have seriously questioned whether the U.S. should have invaded Afghanistan while possessing a foreign policy that only has room for "Bad guys" and "Good guys."
While Rumsfeld privately foresaw many of the problems that would continue to haunt the U.S. military over a decade later, he publicly scoffed at the idea that the war had turned into a "Quagmire."
"I may be impatient. In fact I know I'm a bit impatient. We are never going to get the U.S. military out of Afghanistan unless we take care to see that there is something going on that will provide the stability that will be necessary for us to leave. Help!".
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/5-infuriating-findings-in-the-afghanistan-papers/
Some U.S. officials wanted to use the war to turn Afghanistan into a democracy.
Christopher Kolenda, an Army colonel who deployed to Afghanistan several times and advised three U.S. generals in charge of the war, said that the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai had "Self-organized into a kleptocracy" by 2006 - and that U.S. officials failed to recognize the lethal threat it posed to their strategy.
"Our biggest single project, sadly and inadvertently, of course, may have been the development of mass corruption," said former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in Kabul in 2002 and from 2011 to 2012.
No one seems to have seriously questioned whether the U.S. should have invaded Afghanistan while possessing a foreign policy that only has room for "Bad guys" and "Good guys."
While Rumsfeld privately foresaw many of the problems that would continue to haunt the U.S. military over a decade later, he publicly scoffed at the idea that the war had turned into a "Quagmire."
"I may be impatient. In fact I know I'm a bit impatient. We are never going to get the U.S. military out of Afghanistan unless we take care to see that there is something going on that will provide the stability that will be necessary for us to leave. Help!".
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/5-infuriating-findings-in-the-afghanistan-papers/
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