Choosing Defeat

Paul D. Miller is Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University. He served as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff; worked as an intelligence analyst for the CIA; and served as a military intelligence officer in the US Army. He is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and author of Just War and Ordered Liberty (Cambridge, 2021) and American Power and Liberal Order (2016).

'This is a remarkable and important book - erudite and detailed, yet pithy and provocative. As a soldier, intelligence analyst, policymaker, professor, and scholar, Paul D. Miller has certainly earned his right to write this book and offer his take on the history of America's Afghanistan experience. More, he has helped us understand what went so badly wrong there, even though Americans like him who served can take some solace that the war helped prevent another 9/11 despite its ultimate failure to achieve larger objectives.' Michael O'Hanlon, Phil Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy, the Brookings Institution, and author of To Dare Mighty Things: U.S. Defense Strategy Since the Revolution

• 1. Myths and mysteries of war in Afghanistan; 2. 2001: victory; 3. 2002–2003: neglect; 4. 2003–2005: refocus; 5. 2006: insurgency; 6. 2007–2008: counterinsurgency; 7. 2009: false start; 8. 2009: the hinge; 9. 2010–2011: surge; 10. 2010–2014: Negotiations; 11. 2012–2014: transition; 12. 2015–2016: Obama's forever war; 13. 2017–2018: Trump's forever war; 14. 2018–2020: Doha; 15. 2021: defeat; 16. Why did we lose?