August 15, 2022
Why No One Was in Charge in Afghanistan
On the first anniversary of the meltdown of Afghanistan, one of the best ways for the United States to respect the service and sacrifice of Americans and Afghans is to learn from its shortcomings and enact sensible measures that reduce the likelihood of future national security disasters.
Washington’s unenviable track record in post-9/11 military interventions, combined with increasing global volatility, suggests that reform is necessary and urgent to avoid being trapped in another quagmire of broken promises and impossible commitments. Here are three issues that contribute to U.S. failures—and some practical steps the U.S. government can take to prevent more fiascos.
The U.S. government should undertake three low-cost, high-payoff actions to learn from the Afghanistan debacle.
Coordination is impossible without a common playbook. The State and Defense departments are two agencies separated by a common language. The U.S. government has no official national security terms and concepts, so the same words can have different meanings, which makes coordination haphazard and heightens the risk of miscommunication.
Read the full article from Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
A Failure to Plan: Examining the Biden Administration’s Preparation for the Afghanistan Withdrawal
Congressional Testimony
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam. One failure is a horrible accident; two failures are a tragic coincidence; three failures are a disturbing trend that shows the U.S. government...
By Christopher D. Kolenda
-
Against All Odds
Reports
Eighteen months after taking power, the Taliban is intensifying its repression of Afghan civil society and cracking down on the rights and freedoms of all Afghans, especially ...
By Lisa Curtis, Annie Pforzheimer & Jan Mohammad Jahid
-
To Help Afghanistan, Engage Its Political Opposition
Commentary
The effort to help Afghans shape a better alternative should begin now....
By Richard Fontaine & Lisa Curtis
-
International Community Must Do More to Protect Human Rights in Afghanistan
Commentary
Human rights in Afghanistan, especially those of women and girls, have deteriorated sharply during the first year of Taliban rule. The very real prospect of losing a generatio...
By Lisa Curtis, Annie Pforzheimer & Jan Mohammad Jahid
