Afghanistan Lessons Learned report

**Slater** · 09-19-21, 11:24

For anyone interested. I realize that for many of us, this will be "Thanks, Captain Obvious", but it does have some interesting points:

"The U.S. government’s inability to get the right people into the right jobs at the right times was one of the most significant failures of the mission. It is also one
of the hardest to repair. U.S. personnel in Afghanistan were often unqualified and poorly trained, and those who were qualified were difficult to retain. DOD police
advisors watched American TV shows to learn about policing, civil affairs teams were mass-produced via PowerPoint presentations, and every agency experienced
annual lobotomies as staff constantly rotated out, leaving successors to start from scratch and make similar mistakes all over again. These dynamics had direct
effects on the quality of reconstruction. There were often not enough staff to oversee the spending, and certainly not enough who were qualified to do so. This
was particularly true for civilian agencies, such as State or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which should have been leading the effort but
were unable to meaningfully perform that role. This compelled the better-resourced DOD to fill the void, creating tensions with civilian agencies that often had different ideas but fewer staff to offer."

https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslea...R-21-46-LL.pdf

**jbjh** · 09-19-21, 11:53

SIGAR is an amazing read. It’s like the Pentagon Papers, except no one was trying to hide it.

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**Business_Casual** · 09-19-21, 12:16

Also, if China is building railroads to Europe, Joe will get out of their way quickly.

**ddbtoth** · 09-20-21, 08:11

Originally Posted by jbjh

SIGAR is an amazing read. It’s like the Pentagon Papers, except no one was trying to hide it.

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No one care because there is no responsibility for actions anymore, as long as you're a democrat and don't say mean things.

**jbjh** · 09-20-21, 10:22

Originally Posted by ddbtoth

No one care because there is no responsibility for actions anymore, as long as you're a democrat and don't say mean things.

While there’s truth in what you say, the problems in Afghanistan date from the very beginning, and responsibility hangs around the neck of Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, along with 20 years of Congress. Biden just had the most recent turn in the barrel.

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**crusader377** · 09-20-21, 10:33

Originally Posted by jbjh

While there’s truth in what you say, the problems in Afghanistan date from the very beginning, and responsibility hangs around the neck of Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, along with 20 years of Congress. Biden just had the most recent turn in the barrel.

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I served in Afghanistan in 2002. The biggest mistake we made was policy makers made an assumption that we could do nation building in Afghanistan. Culturally, when I was in Afghanistan if you didn't see Toyota pickups and AKs, an outsider would have difficulty guessing what century you were in. Afghanistan was a tribal society 2300 years ago when Alexander invaded, it was tribal when the British were there in the 1800s and it is still a tribal society today.

**jsbhike** · 09-20-21, 21:17

Originally Posted by crusader377

I served in Afghanistan in 2002. The biggest mistake we made was policy makers made an assumption that we could do nation building in Afghanistan. Culturally, when I was in Afghanistan if you didn't see Toyota pickups and AKs, an outsider would have difficulty guessing what century you were in. Afghanistan was a tribal society 2300 years ago when Alexander invaded, it was tribal when the British were there in the 1800s and it is still a tribal society today.

Didn't serve, but was aware of any lessons needed to know nearly a decade before simply from reading about Britain and USSR having a go at it and also picking up on the heavy Saudi contingent running the show.

**SteyrAUG** · 09-20-21, 23:36

Originally Posted by jsbhike

Didn't serve, but was aware of any lessons needed to know nearly a decade before simply from reading about Britain and USSR having a go at it and also picking up on the heavy Saudi contingent running the show.

Not to mention many shockingly similar repeats of failures and misteps in VN. The only thing we really learn is we never really learn.

**jsbhike** · 09-21-21, 06:08

Originally Posted by SteyrAUG

Not to mention many shockingly similar repeats of failures and misteps in VN. The only thing we really learn is we never really learn.

Or worse yet the "they" of "we" do learn. If you, me, and a bunch of others pick up on history as a hobby it seems unlikely a professional group consensus repeatedly acts out ignorance or folly which gets in to the ultimate outcome having been desired all along.

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