The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig WhitlockMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It seems everyone in the government wants to chat about their work as long as they aren't on the record. Thanks to a pair of lawsuits by the Washington Post we now have insight into 0fficial thinking by politicians, generals, and assorted bureaucrats on America's longest conflict. It is maddening.
Former Ambassador Richard Boucher: "First we went in to get al-Qaida and to get al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan . . .we did that. The Taliban was shooting back at us so we started shooting at them . . . . Ultimately, we kept expanding the mission."
Army General Dan McNeil "quickly judged that the United States and NATO didn't have a coherent war strategy."
"U.S. and NATO officials belatedly recognized that drug-related corruption was . . . threatening to turn Afghanistan into . . . a 'narco-state.'"
[General} McKiernan had violated an unspoken rule . . . he did not deceive the public with specious language . . ."
McKiernan was fired in 2009 for telling the truth and the lesson was not lost on later generals. Happy talk or face retirement.
And on it goes. Two generations of government officials lied and dissembled. And only McKiernan lost his job. (General McCrystal was fired for making fun of civilian officials such as Joe Biden.)
Author Whitlock published the book before the chaos of our departure. He mentions President Biden visiting Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60, where the dead of Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. ". . . he [the President] gazed into the distance, surveying row upon row of white marble gravestones. 'Hard to believe," he murmured. 'Look at them all.'"
A little later he added thirteen more.
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