Why We Lost the War in Afghanistan

American soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division deploy to fight Taliban fighters as part of Operation Mountain Thrust to a U.S. base near the village of Deh Afghan in the Zabul Province of Afghanistan on June 22, 2006. John Moore/Getty Images

Commentary

America’s top general in Afghanistan, Austin S. Miller, is deeply worried that the United States has lost the war in that region—and he knows best because he’s on the scene. In a recent conversation with journalists in Kabul, Miller declared, “A civil war is certainly a path that can be visualized if this continues on the trajectory it’s on right now.”