Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
The speed of the collapse of the Afghan government and its U.S.-backed security forces with their 300,000 troops and advanced equipment against Taliban forces causes great embarrassment to the Biden administration. Based on intelligence assessments, U.S. leaders promised until the last minute that such a scenario was not expected.
The rapid collapse shows how the American attempt to instill in Afghans a liberal worldview in the space of 20 years was politically and culturally impossible and how misguided that approach was in the first place. It also provided further evidence of the difficulty that the West has in general – and U.S. intelligence in particular – in understanding the Islamic world and the role of religion and tribal affiliation in it.
