Afghanistan is the United States' longest war. Yet after 16 years of bloody fighting, there is no indication that Washington has a better sense of how to address that festering conflict. The administration of President Donald Trump is confronting the fundamental dilemma that he and his predecessor faced: how to end the overseas commitments that drain U.S. strength and resources without leaving a power vacuum in Afghanistan and signaling a loss of U.S resolve.
Afghanistan has presented U.S. presidents with difficult choices since George W. Bush invaded the country in 2001 in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington The initial victory — the Taliban government was quickly driven out of Kabul, eliminating the safe haven that al-Qaida enjoyed — was squandered by a refocusing of U.S. efforts on Iraq. The diversion of resources to Operation Iraqi Freedom allowed the Taliban to regroup and reform.
No government in Kabul was able to assert authority over the entire country, a failure that reflected hundreds of years of tribal rather than national affiliation, and was abetted by the readiness of the U.S. government to work with local leaders to consolidate power as well as a willingness to overlook corruption at all levels of government. The president of Afghanistan invariably looked weak or corrupt (or both), and lacked authority or legitimacy.