I checked. I made seven trips to Afghanistan, the first when the accommodations for us were modified shipping containers. Others were there a lot more, and gave much more; some gave all.
As we look back, I see the fatal day as when we dropped the ball in Afghanistan to pivot to the misbegotten Bush war in Iraq.
We had popularity, momentum and success in Afghanistan then, and if we had set wise parameters for stepping back, the outcome could have been different. We would not have left a little America behind, but that should never have been our goal there.
The other nagging flaw over the years was never addressing Pakistan’s role, supporting us as an ally while degrading our effort through ISI and the Haqqani network. They played both sides, providing supply chains & relief to the Taliban, and we never dealt with that adequately.
Last was corruption — where we still have lessons to learn. You can’t rebuild an entire culture, and local allies will often need financial support on and off the books, but wholesale and massive corruption taints the entire enterprise, and they know how to read a mark.
I grieve for the Americans killed and maimed there, and for their families. At the end of the day, the measure of their service was the quality of their service, not other decisions others made. Nothing should take that pride of service away from them.
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