Perspective on Afghanistan, With Richard N. Haass

Why It Matters

Council on Foreign Relations

News

4.2 • 876 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country, has prompted a moment of national debate about the war’s cost and legacy. Many are asking what went wrong and what the conflict accomplished. For insight, Why It Matters turned to CFR President Richard N. Haass, who has spent four decades studying and advising on Afghanistan. As head of policy planning for the State Department under U.S. President George W. Bush, and later as U.S. coordinator for the future of Afghanistan, Haass was in the room when many of the earliest and most important decisions about the war were shaped. In this episode, he offers his critique of how the war unfolded and raises potential lessons the United States should consider as it turns its eyes to future challenges. Featured Guest: Richard N. Haass (CFR President) For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/perspective-afghanistan-richard-n-haass

Transcript

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0:00.0	So like many of you, we at Why It Matters have been watching the news coming out of Afghanistan.
0:09.0	The United States' 20-year war has come to an end.
0:13.0	The government we attempted to build there has failed,
0:16.2	and the Taliban has retaken the country with breathtaking speed.
0:20.3	For many of us, it is a time of reckoning about what went wrong.
0:24.6	The war began as a direct response to the 9-11 attacks, and the Taliban's refusal to hand
0:30.1	over the members of al-Qaeda that perpetrated them.
0:33.0	But as the years dragged on, many Americans lost track of why we were there,
0:38.0	and what the mission was.
0:40.0	Many young Americans don't recall a time where we were not at war in Afghanistan.
0:45.1	The debate about all of this is going to continue for years to come, but one thing is certain.
0:51.2	We have to try to learn the right lessons from Afghanistan. So in an effort
0:56.2	to start learning those lessons, we thought we would do something different this week.
1:00.6	Usually on the show, we feature several guests with differing opinions. We think that's important. But today we are just going to have one guest and he's my boss. Richard Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
1:15.3	We spoke on Zoom and the team decided to release the conversation with minimal editing.
1:20.2	The views you will hear are his own.
1:22.4	We spoke to him because he has spent four decades studying and advising on Afghanistan
1:27.0	and serving under four presidents.
1:29.0	He was in the room when many of the most important early decisions about the Afghanistan
1:34.4	war were debated and shaped.
1:36.4	There's a lot on his resume, but here are a few things you should know.
1:47.0	He was in the State Department in the 1980s when the Reagan administration attempted to counter the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
	...

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