If the US-backed government of Afghanistan had read this article of mine, it might not have melted down the way it did

I wrote this article for the London School of Economics blog in January 2018. In retrospect, I believe that if the US-backed government of Afghanistan had listened to me, it might not have collapsed in the way that it did.

Medics from the former coalition travelling to remote villages in the Nawa district of Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. Image credit: Nathan W. Hutchison, US Army, Public domain.

On October 7, 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the beginning of airstrikes targeting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Many pessimists believe that the US intervention in Afghanistan has done less good for the country. Barry Posen famous for his Theory of Great Power Restraint advises the US to have a full withdraw from Afghanistan and leave it into the hands of its neighbours plus Russia and India. The scenario he proposes was happening in the 1990s, and that ended up with 9/11. He laments that the progressive anti-Taliban Afghans either have not fought hard enough to win the war against insurgency whilst simultaneously failing to win domestic…