5 Things The U.S. Military Got Right In Afghanistan (From 1945)

There is a real danger that in the drive to find someone to blame for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, we will lose sight of the important lessons learned in the fight against them and other violent extremists there. The U.S. military did a remarkable job projecting and sustaining forces half a world away and conducting military operations under the most pressing conditions. It pivoted from a focus on a high-tech fight against the Soviet Union to combatting the equivalent of a seventh-century insurgency. Now that the military is back to a focus on high-intensity warfare, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, it must be careful not to forget the lessons it has learned over the past 20 years. What did the U.S. military get right in Afghanistan? At least five things. I have written more on this subject here.