3 years after the Taliban’s return, Afghanistan is a broken country swarming with terrorists again

By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University

This week marks the third year since America’s retreat from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power.

The United States had intervened in Afghanistan in response to the September 11 2001 terror attacks by al-Qaeda. The aim was to combat international terrorism and chart a new global order to make the world safer and more secure.

Yet, as I argue in my new book, How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan, the world today is arguably more conflict-ridden…

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