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Rightsizing Expectations

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Rightsizing Expectations

U.S. Policy Options for Afghanistan

Brookings Institution,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Afghanistan’s civil society has made great strides since the US invasion of 2001. But challenges remain.

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Well Structured
  • Overview
  • Background

Recommendation

In this fresh look at Afghanistan, former US Marine Corps General John Allen and five experts from the Brookings Institution analyze the situation there. In a June 2017 roundtable discussion, the experts hew to the conventional wisdom: that the US invasion of Afghanistan was justified and that US involvement has borne fruit. They also acknowledge that US president Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of foreign policy and that any further investment of American lives is a tough sell.

Summary

US troops arrived in Afghanistan in 2001, just after the September 11, 2001, attacks, with a goal of preventing al-Qaida from mounting another assault on US soil. At the time, al-Qaida seemed a real threat, and fears of another “mega-attack” were high. Eight years later, the Obama administration concluded that the al-Qaida menace had moved into Pakistan, and then US president Barack Obama used drones to pick apart the al-Qaida stronghold in Pakistan. After the combination of those attacks and the death of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida ceased to pose a threat to the United...

About the Authors

John R. Allen is a retired US Marine Corps general and former commander in Afghanistan. Vanda Felbab-Brown, Michael O’Hanlon and Bruce Riedel are senior fellows at Brookings. Tanvi Madan is a fellow at Brookings and director of The India Project. Bruce Jones is foreign policy vice president and director at Brookings.

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