Interesting and valuable graphic and the article is even better — kudos to @LongWarJournal @billroggio ... but it’s a bit misleading to start the clock on the Afghan war in April 2021. It would be more illuminating to show the trends over the last several years leading to now
https://twitter.com/billroggio/status/1415135034210758656
The Taliban’s strength did not spring up de novo in April 2021 after the US announced withdrawal. Years of Taliban advances have led to this moment. The hollowness of the Afghan government and security forces is striking despite 20 years of US assistance
It’s a good graphic and article, but I am disappointed in a larger trend in reporting and commentary about the Taliban’s recent gains since April that gloss over the Taliban’s gains over the last several years that have led to this moment
If the only thing that was holding back a Taliban advance like this was the perception of US support then things were already quite bad off.
If after 20 years of US assistance the Afghan security forces cannot hold this territory, I would like to see more critical analysis questioning the assumption that staying would achieve a different long term outcome. Or is the idea that we stay in Afghanistan indefinitely?
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