Afghan National Army

Panel: U.S. Began Afghanistan War with Unrealistic Expectations

U.S. Soldiers and contractors load High Mobility Multi-purposed Wheeled Vehicles, HUMVs, to be sent for transport in support of the Resolute Support retrograde mission in Afghanistan on July 13, 2020. US Army Photo

American expectations of what could be achieved in Afghanistan – like establishing a democracy by defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban – were too high, while the U.S.’s early focus on revenge and justice following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the homeland, two national...

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/08/panel-u-s-began-afghanistan-war-with-unrealistic-expectations

Report to Congress on U.S. Policy Toward Afghanistan

The following is the Feb. 26, 2019 Congressional Research Service report, Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy In Brief.

From the report

Afghanistan has been a central U.S. foreign policy concern since 2001, when the United States, in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led a military campaign against Al Qaeda and the Taliban government that harbored and supported it. In the intervening 17 years, the United States has suffered around 2,400 fatalities in Afghanistan...

https://news.usni.org/2019/02/27/report-congress-u-s-policy-toward-afghanistan