La Crosse County Library's Reviews > The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War

I was just in elementary school when word of 9/11 found its way into our classroom via another teacher saying to turn on our TV. I don't remember hearing an adult sound so outwardly frightened before. That stuck with me, along with fragmented images of the Twin Towers burning. Fear is powerful--why it enables our brains to recall our most terrifying moments in uncanny. Then came the anger, another powerful emotion.



At the time, it seemed like a justifiable reaction when the U.S. military entered Iraq and Afghanistan to make sure the people who attacked us couldn't do that again. It was straightforward, our mission to get in, do the job of targeting the terrorist masterminds responsible for 9/11, and then getting out quickly. Craig Whitlock, an investigative journalist with The Washington Post, argues that when nation-building came into the equation, that's when straightforward turned chaotic, deadly, and disorganized.



The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War (2021) chronicles how the U.S. overextended itself on two fronts: Iraq and Afghanistan (with a focus on Afghanistan, of course). Early on, the Afghanistan mission was neglected in favor of Iraq. With most U.S. attention and resources focused on Iraq, Afghanistan's counterterrorism strategy suffered. Constant turnover of personnel on the ground didn't help matters.

First, the mission was targeting the 9/11 foes of terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. Then it became a war against terror itself--with the definition of the enemy constantly expanding to groups like the Taliban, and anyone who seemed aligned against the Americans. And how better to make sure the U.S. was never threatened again than by bringing about stability and prosperity, conditions less likely to spawn terrorism?

Following that reasoning, money was thrown at all sorts of problems designed to improve people's lives and the standing of the U.S.-backed democratic government. The problem was that hardly any accountability was happening as to who, what, where, when, and why and money often disappeared into the coffers of insurgent forces and corrupt government officials. Corruption never bodes well for the long-term viability of a democracy.



As the problems mounted, a simple mission turned into a 20-year quagmire. Because no one wants to admit failure--it's a political liability, especially in the U.S. system, one that also seems to frown on changing stances based on experience or new information--three administrations (Bush, Obama, Trump) took turns spouting overly optimistic and patently false assessments of how things in Afghanistan were going.

Behind the scenes, firsthand accounts of American officials were entirely different, revealing the extent of government dishonesty that was made clearly--and painfully--visible in the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan this past summer, the astonishing speed with which the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban filled in the power vacuum.



A sobering account of how things went so terribly and how we got to the present moment, The Afghanistan Papers is powerful investigative journalism that is worth the read.

-Cora

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