Is Kunduz the Beginning of the End for Afghanistan?

Military airstrikes require accurate intelligence reports from the ground. The United States is assisting Afghan forces in preventing infiltration by the Taliban and Islamic State militants. A US airstrike is reported to have struck a small hospital operating in the provincial capital of Kunduz, killing 19. Doctors Without Borders ran the hospital and has called for a United Nations war crimes investigation. Emile Simpson, a former infantry officer in the British Army who served in Afghanistan, writes for Politico: “the fall of Kunduz to the Taliban for two days last week – and the struggle that may still be underway continuing for control of the city – marks a new phase in the war and a critical test for the effort by the United States and NATO to leave the bulk of the fighting to Afghan security forces.” He suggests a challenge in stabilizing Afghanistan is entrenched corruption as well as narrow priorities among some Afghan troops and leaders. Soviet failures in Afghanistan and the fall of Mosul in Iraq foreshadow challenges for NATO. He concludes, “If there’s a lesson here for Western foreign policy – one that Washington should learn quickly – it is that Western forces have far less leverage on local sovereign governments than is sometimes assumed.” The United States identified the error and issued an apology. – YaleGlobal