One recurring theme in the media coverage of the US pullout from Afghanistan is that after 20 years, trillions of dollars, and thousands of lives lost, we left the country in the same broken state it was before we arrived. “We accomplished nothing,” goes the pundit refrain. But that is wrong. We invaded Afghanistan “to prevent it from becoming a breeding ground for terrorists” – and we did not leave it as it was. We left it worse. Far worse.
As a survivor of genocide and an academic studying the ways that education can resuscitate broken countries and people, I have repeatedly seen how even the most tolerant Muslims can end up being radicalised under the right set of conditions.
The US did more to radicalise Afghanistan than Osama bin Laden | Religion | Al Jazeera
