All the Taliban had to do was wait him out. Worse, they said, Obama tried to set artificial dates for ending the war before it was over. U.S., NATO and Afghan officials told government interviewers that it tried to accomplish too much, too quickly, and depended on an Afghan government that was corrupt and dysfunctional. troops by the end of his presidency.īut Obama’s strategy was also destined to fail. In contrast with Bush, Obama imposed strict deadlines and promised to bring home all U.S. and NATO troops, as well as tons of aid for a weak Afghan government.
Obama tore up Bush’s counterterrorism strategy and approved a polar-opposite plan - a massive counterinsurgency campaign, backed by 150,000 U.S. diplomat who served as ambassador to NATO under Bush Listen “After '03-04, once we were fully engaged in both wars, I can’t remember us ever saying, ‘Should we be there? Are we being useful? Are we succeeding?” “They take a lot of high-level time and attention and we’ll overload the system if we do more than one of these at a time.” James Dobbins | Lessons Learned interview | Tap to view full documentīy the time Obama took office in 2009, al-Qaeda had largely vanished from Afghanistan. I mean that seriously,” James Dobbins | Lessons Learned interview | Tap to view full document Dobbins said, according to a transcript of his remarks. “First, you know, sort of just invade only one country at a time. James Dobbins, a career diplomat who served as a special envoy for Afghanistan under Bush and Obama, told government interviewers it was a hubristic mistake that should have been obvious from the start. Soon, however, he made plans to invade another nation - Iraq - and Afghanistan quickly became an afterthought.
troops in Afghanistan indefinitely to hunt suspected terrorists. Their strategies differed, but Bush and Obama both committed early blunders that they never recovered from, according to the interviews.Īfter a succession of quick military victories in 2001 and early 2002, Bush decided to keep a light force of U.S. (Lois Raimondo/The Washington Post) Damulla Mohammad Nazar, 80, describes Taliban atrocities in Dasht-e Qalat, in northeastern Afghanistan, in October 2001. Northern Alliance fighters in Chaghatay, Afghanistan, in November 2001. Damulla Mohammad Nazar, 80, describes Taliban atrocities in Dasht-e Qalat, in northeastern Afghanistan, in October 2001.
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