19 years and 8 months ago, I landed at Bagram Air Field outside Kabul with then SecDef Rumsfeld and a handful of reporters including @NorahODonnell & @BretBaier - covering the first US official visit since the start of military operations. 1/
2/ I remember a barren landscape, mortar holes in the hangar roof and one Spec Ops soldier on an ATV. The mission then was to neutralize Al Qaeda and end Taliban control of Afghanistan. In the years that followed, American ambitions grew, though without an explicit declaration.
3/ The US would help build the Afghan economy, for one and ween it off the opium crop. I remember a US General talking up alternative Afghan crops from nuts to flowers. The US would help build a democratically-elected government too. Elections became massive security operations.
4/ And education too: the US built schools, especially for Afghan girls. The number of Afghan girls in school and women in universities, including those at the American University of Afghanistan, became a regular US talking point for US officials on progress. Progress always.
5/ And the Afghan military. I covered the 1st graduating class of the Afghan Army. I remember snickers as the soldiers in their brand new informs were woefully out of sync in drills. But, over time, we were told, they would defend their country & - crucially - replace US forces
6/ The events of the last several weeks belied that. Afghan security forces fought bravely - and many thousands died in combat and terror attacks. But without the backing even of a small US forces, they folded in the face of a rapid Taliban advance. This is not cowardice…
7/ ..but calculation. The Taliban had the upper hand. The US and NATO were leaving. It made sense to accommodate the new reality. If your life and the lives of your family hung in the balance, would you make a different choice? Now here we are 20 years later.
8/ Right now, my thoughts are with the Afghan people under genuine threat: anyone who worked with or for the US or NATO, or women and girls who took the simple step of going to school, and others who were journalists or comedians or musicians
9/ And with US service-members who fought & died, or fought & # were wounded, or fought & suffered in other ways, and their families & loved ones. And their deep and unsettled feelings now about what it was all for. Find them today and find a way to show them support & gratitude
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