Afghan national security forces prepare for operations against insurgents in Helmand Province in January 2008. While Afghan National Police suffered from incompetence and corruption, the Afghan National Army became increasingly competent at conducting counterinsurgent operations. U.S. Department of Defense, Specialist David Gunn
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s minister of foreign affairs, shown here speaking at a NATO event in August 2003, repeatedly warned Washington policymakers that the security situation was getting more dangerous. NATO
Lieutenant General David Barno (foreground), Major General Lloyd Austin (left), Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (center), and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad (right) meet in Kabul on December 4,2003, to talk about stabilization efforts. U.S. Department of Defense, Technical Sergeant Andy Dunaway
Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, briefs journalists at the Pentagon on October 15, 2004. Khalilzad was instrumental in developing a strategy on “Accelerating Success” in Afghanistan.U.S. Department of Defense, R. D. Ward
Lieutenant General David Barno, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, at a press conference at the Pentagon on October 19, 2004. One of his most successful efforts was helping provide a secure environment for the presidential elections that year in Afghanistan. U.S. Department of Defense, R. D. Ward
Two Afghan women, wearing bright blue burqas, show their ink-stained fingers after voting for parliamentary elections on September 18, 2005. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Jacob Caldwell
Children peer through the damaged wall of their schoolhouse in Kabul. After the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban regime, increasing numbers of boys and girls went to school in Afghanistan. U.S. Department of Defense, Corporal Matthew Roberson
Afghan laborers build the perimeter wall at a NATO Forward Operating Base in Badghis Province. NATO completed its movement to western Afghanistan in September 2005. U.S. Department of Defense, Technical Sergeant Laura K. Smith
U.S. Army soldiers establish a security perimeter after exiting a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter near Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2005. Insurgent violence grew steadily throughout 2005 and hit unprecedented levels in 2006. U.S. Department of Defense, Specialist Harold Fields
A U.S. Marine (left) inspects a poppy plant next to an Afghan National Army soldier (right) during a patrol in Helmand Province. Poppy is most heavily cultivated in southern Afghan provinces like Helmand. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Luis P. Valdespino Jr.
Aerial view from a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in Nangarhar Province near Jalalabad. Despite insurgent violence, the United States was still involved in a range of reconstruction projects in the cities and villages of Nangarhar and other provinces in eastern Afghanistan. Obaid Younossi
An F-15E Strike Eagle from the 391st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, launches heat decoys during a close-air-support mission over Afghanistan. Afghans became increasingly angry as close air support caused more civilian casualties. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Aaron Allmon
U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann (front) in Nuristan Province with Alonzo Fulgham (center), the U.S. Agency for International Development’s mission director in Afghanistan, and Governor Tamim Nuristani (back). Neumann’s father had been the ambassador to Afghanistan during the reign of Zahir Shah. Three decades later, Neumann faced the challenge of working with Hamid Karzai to establish security and eradicate corruption in the Afghan government. Photo by Jennifer Harris and courtesy of Ronald Neumann
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, head of Combined Forces Command—Afghanistan, briefs journalists at the Pentagon on December 8, 2005. Eikenberry, who was instrumental in helping build the Afghan army, faced a “perfect storm” that hit Afghanistan in 2006 as violence levels skyrocketed. U.S. Department of Defense, R. D. Ward
Dutch soldiers in Uruzgan Province launch mortar rounds near Mirabad. While some NATO countries engaged in combat, U.S. government officials increasingly complained that most NATO countries shied away from fighting. NATO
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets the Pakistani chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2008. With the U.S. war in Iraq winding down, U.S. military leaders were finally able to give more attention to Afghanistan. At this meeting, they discussed a range of security issues, including Afghan insurgents operating from Pakistani soil. U.S. Department of Defense, Petty Officer 1st Class William John Kipp Jr.
An armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) taxis down a runway in Afghanistan on its way to a wartime mission in 2008. The United States increasingly used UAVs to target insurgents across the border in Pakistan. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Brian Ferguson
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (left) and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai (right) meet in Kabul in June 2007. They discussed the insurgency, civilian casualties, and efforts to build Afghan national security forces. U.S. Department of Defense, Cherie A. Thurlby
U.S. Marines prepare for an attack against a Taliban stronghold in Now Zad, Afghanistan in 2008. Anticipating heavier fighting, the Marines increased their presence in Afghanistan’s violent southern regions in 2009. U.S. Department of Defense, Sergeant Freddy G. Cantu
INTRODUCTION
I SPENT THE MORNING of September 8, 2006, with several Afghan friends in a guesthouse in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, sipping a warm cup of sher chai, a traditional Afghan drink prepared using black tea, cardamom, and milk. The house was constructed of concrete, with whitewashed walls and a small leafy courtyard. There was a meticulously crafted assortment of red and pink roses around the perimeter, and a small vineyard with green grapes on one end. Like much of the capital city, this house had been rebuilt after the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001. Just five years after the American invasion, Kabul was a vastly different city, awash in electronics equipment and sprinkled with new Internet cafés. The streets were clogged with bright yellow taxicabs, watermelon carts, bicycles, and cars imported from Europe and Asia. Young boys and girls shuffled to school along the congested sidewalks. Construction projects dotted the city. Several new banks and an upscale indoor shopping mall named Kabul City Center were going up downtown. Economic growth was up 8.6 percent that year alone.1