Los papeles de Afganistán

Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had almost unanimous public support. At first, the goals were simple and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Shortly after the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban from power, however, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original goals. The US military was embroiled in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country they did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause, and the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect of an absolute victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public's understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contain startling revelations from people who played a direct role in the war, from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In plain language, they admit that the US government's strategies were a disaster, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold on their allies in the Afghan government.