U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan: Five Lessons We Should Have Learned

The dangers of magical thinking and the need for politics, planning & strategy

This American Security Project paper examines the war in Afghanistan to identify lessons policymakers need to learn from the conflict.

Much discussion of the war focuses on narrow issues like military doctrine or troop surges, but there are more fundamental lessons that need to be learned from the last ten years of war. US policy has been hobbled by magical thinking, misunderstanding the country of Afghanistan, ignoring politics, poor planning, and a disturbing refusal to plan for the future.