What was the purpose of America's longest war? Subscribe and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. The Afghan president fled the country. Almost all of Afghanistan is now under Taliban control. It marks the end of an era: America’s longest war is now over, and it lost. And it happened fast, stunning the world and leaving many in the country racing to find an exit. But even among those surprised by the way the end played out, many knew the war was destined to end badly. According to some experts, the seeds of disaster were planted back at the war’s very beginning. Ever since the American war in Afghanistan began in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the US government has struggled with answering exactly why the military was there. In the very beginning the goal was relatively clear: to capture the perpetrator of the attacks, Osama bin Laden. But almost immediately, the goals became murkier, and more complicated. In this video, investigative reporter Azmat Khan and former US ambassador to Afghanistan Michael McKinley explain what the US military was actually doing in Afghanistan, what it got wrong, and why America’s long intervention there is considered a failure. Some of the sources we used in our reporting: This report from Brown University’s Cost of War project has good data on how many Afghan civilians have beem killed in airstrikes: https://ift.tt/2VNkyPL The comparison of American attitudes towards the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are from Gallup polls: https://ift.tt/3gASNob https://ift.tt/3yilHzm This annual report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan reconstruction provided us with a lot of information on US money and resources spent on Afghanistan since the start of the war: https://ift.tt/3ksujhY The Long War Journal’s maps on Taliban control helped us visualize how they gained ground over time: https://ift.tt/2TB9lnV Other sources that we recommend for understanding this story: No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban and the War Through Afghan Eyes By Anand Gopal: https://ift.tt/2WnMYU8 The Whitewashing of the Afghan War by Emran Feroz: https://ift.tt/3sKUCnw On the ground reporting by Ali M. Latifi: https://ift.tt/3ksNiJi The Washington Post’s Afghanistan Papers database: https://ift.tt/3jh96bo Ghost Students, Ghost Teachers, Ghost School by Azmat Khan: https://ift.tt/2XOrHDs We all lost Afghanistan by Michael McKinley: https://ift.tt/2Xxxj55 Vox Reporting: The rapid fall of Afghanistan to Taliban forces, explained by Natasha Ishak: https://ift.tt/37MNcGs Who are the Taliban now, by Jen Kirby: https://ift.tt/3gxl6UH Why Biden was so set on withdrawing from Afghanistan, by Andrew Prokop: https://ift.tt/3CXoQII The history of US intervention in Afghanistan, from the Cold War to 9/11, by Emily Stewart: https://ift.tt/380Qczd The US needs to meet its moral obligation to Afghan refugees, by Li Zhou: https://ift.tt/3swuQDb Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com. Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H
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