Intelligence Squared What Did Twenty Years of Western Intervention in Afghanistan Achieve? With Jon Lee Anderson
Sep 23, 2025
Jon Lee Anderson, a veteran foreign correspondent with extensive experience in conflict zones and author of 'To Lose a War', shares his insights on Afghanistan's tumultuous history. He discusses the unraveling of the US mission, revealing personal connections and key failures during two decades of intervention. Anderson highlights stories of resilience from the Afghan people and reflects on the complexities of modern-day Taliban control, youth culture, and the bittersweet legacies of education and betrayal left behind by Western presence.
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Drawn Back By Afghanistan's Hold
- Jon Lee Anderson kept returning to Afghanistan because its landscape, history and people are hypnotic and uncompromising.
- He spent long periods with fighters and civilians, witnessing their poetry, prayers and devastated towns firsthand.
Turning Away Seeded Future Threats
- Anderson argues the West turned away after aiding the Mujahideen, allowing Afghanistan to become a sanctuary for jihadis before 9/11.
- He says 20 years of intervention ended in a failure that governments avoid admitting as a defeat.
Cultural Dissonance Undermined The Mission
- Anderson observed cultural ignorance and insensitivity among Western forces as early warning signs of failure.
- By 2010 he predicted withdrawal was likely because mutual distrust between Americans and Afghans undermined progress.
