Q&A: David Loyn
At what point did the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan become unwinnable? Was it always, or was there a point that sealed its fate?
In the first week of December 2001, two decisions of the Bush administration set the course for what would become America’s longest war. On December 3, U.S. special forces began an assault on the Tora Bora caves where Osama bin Laden was holed up. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wanted Afghans to do the ground fighting and paid unreliable local militias, backed by U.S. air power, and a handful of
