The Failures of Operation Enduring Freedom
The chief aim in late 2001 should have been the swift destruction of al-Qaeda. That didn’t happen.
Nineteen years ago today, the U.S. military went to war in Afghanistan. It was not a war of America’s choosing. Prior to the 9/11 hijackings, Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants planned a series of attacks on American interests, including the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings and the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole. Despite the obvious terrorist threat ema…