Lawfare Archive: Bruce Riedel on ‘Lessons from America’s Secret War in Afghanistan’
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 10 July 2021
⏱️ 64 minutes
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Summary
From July 11, 2014: As the election crisis in Afghanistan comes to a head, all eyes are once again on the future of Afghan democracy. But, America’s history in the region extends back much further than its nation-building efforts since September 2001. On Tuesday, at a Brookings launch of his newest book entitled, “What We Won: America’s Secret War in Afghanistan, 1979-1989,” Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow and Director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, discussed lessons the United States can learn from its successful efforts in the 1970s and 1980s in Afghanistan. In his talk, Riedel discusses the why the American intelligence operation in Afghanistan in the 1980s was so successful, and what, if any lessons, the United States can apply to its ongoing operations in the country. Riedel also explored the complex personalities and individuals who shaped the war, and explains how their influence still affects the region today. Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott provided introductory remarks and moderated the conversation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
| 0:07.2 | podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:14.7 | That's patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:32.6 | Hello, this is LawFair in turn Ajay Sarmo with the podcast from the LawFair archives for |
| 0:45.7 | July 10th 2021. |
| 0:48.6 | This week, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan hit a notable landmark. |
| 0:52.8 | American forces left Bogram Airfield, the epicenter of many counterterrorism operations |
| 0:57.4 | in Afghanistan over the past two decades. |
| 1:00.4 | And despite Taliban territorial gains, President Biden announced that the US military mission |
| 1:05.0 | in Afghanistan will end on August 31st, ahead of the September 11th deadline he had set |
| 1:10.2 | earlier this year. |
| 1:12.3 | For today's episode from the archives, I went back to July 2014 discussion with Brookings |
| 1:17.1 | senior fellow Bruce Raidell on his book What We Won, America's Secret War in Afghanistan. |
| 1:24.5 | Raidell's remarks honed in on what made American operations in Afghanistan successful in the |
| 1:29.1 | 1970s and 80s and the role of regional actors in Afghanistan's stability and gives LawFair |
| 1:34.5 | listeners an opportunity to consider potential avenues for successful engagement after the |
| 1:39.4 | United States exits. |
| 1:45.6 | I'm Cody Poplin and this is the LawFair podcast for July 12th 2014. |
| 1:52.2 | That was Bruce Raidell you just heard, senior fellow and director of the intelligence project |
| 1:56.7 | at the Brookings institution. |
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