Taliban gains demonstrate the failure of 20 years of nation building

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 9, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—As the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, the Taliban has gained ground, recently capturing several provincial capitals. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:

“The inability of the Afghan security services to hold territory in much of Afghanistan without U.S. assistance is not a reason to keep U.S. forces there—it is an indictment of the project that kept U.S. forces there so long. The state-building mission failed, and building a capable military on top of a bad state foundation is nearly impossible.

“The Taliban’s recent progress is a tragedy for Afghanistan but a largely inevitable one. U.S. forces, we have learned, can indefinitely prop up the Afghan security services and delay the Taliban’s gains, but they cannot stop them without staying forever in fighting someone else’s civil war.

“The Taliban’s progress indicates considerably more fighting and dying will likely take place in Afghanistan before a meaningful peace deal there. The civil wars that have plagued Afghanistan for more than 40 years are unlikely to end even in the unlikely event of an intra-Afghan peace deal or even if the Taliban take Kabul. Sadly, the U.S. exit is just one step toward a stable balance of power developing in Afghanistan that will make a lasting peace possible.”

Author

Benjamin
Friedman

Policy Director