The Al Qaeda attack on the twin towers on 9 September 2001 turned America’s global war on terror into a crusade. The operation Enduring Freedom commenced in Afghanistan on 07 October 2001 followed by Desert Storm in Iraq (2003).
Our focus in this article is on the twenty year long war on terror in Afghanistan. The expectations from the American intervention in Afghanistan were coloured by what the popular international and Indian media propagated. Hence the specter of mid-August 2021 caused shock and surprise. Most observers were also puzzled and were hard put in finding answers to three questions. How did a super power (the only one at present) fail? How come the Taliban that was generally written off as a viable force, won so rapidly and comprehensively? What would be the global implications of these dramatic turn of events- especially for India?
