EP 439 The Lessons of the Afghanistan War Going Forward

 After the debacle of the Vietnam War, astute observers of our failed attempt at counterinsurgency said let us not do this again.  Yet, we went into Afghanistan following the attack on 9-11-2001 and have found ourselves in a similar quagmire ever since.  There was a more strategic approach to rooting out Al Qaeda, but we did not take it and the failed attempt at nation building has gone on since that point.  While most troops will be drawn down completely in the period ahead, it is hard to imagine that any agreement will do anything but leave the Taliban as the strongest force in the country.  One of our most astute writers and observers of defense policy, Bing West joins us as he promotes his new book , ‘The Last Platoon’: A Novel of the Afghanistan War’.  As a Marine veteran from the Vietnam era and a former assistant secretary of defense, his insights about this war and defense policy are critical to hear.  He does not hold back on this podcast.

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