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In the wake of American withdrawal from Afghanistan, it has become possible to evaluate more holistically the causes, implementation, and effects of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This article looks back twenty years to the disaster of 9/11 to consider not only the pressures and risks that policy makers faced when making those wars’ momentous decisions, but also the alternative, counterfactual choices that might have produced better outcomes sooner.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022 1 min read
In the wake of American withdrawal from Afghanistan, it has become possible to evaluate more holistically the causes, implementation, and effects of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This article looks back twenty years to the disaster of 9/11 to consider not only the pressures and risks that policy makers faced when making those wars’ momentous decisions, but also the alternative, counterfactual choices that might have produced better outcomes sooner.
Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has served as president of the World Bank, US deputy secretary of defense, and dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, US ambassador to Indonesia, and assistant secretary of state for East Asia.
What Was and What Might Have Been: The Threats and Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
