Afghanistan was a predictable, preventable disaster

One year ago, the Taliban seized Kabul, the Afghan government collapsed, and US President Joe Biden ordered a hasty and chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan. When the crisis ended two weeks later, 13 US service members had been killed and hundreds or more US citizens had been left behind to fend for themselves under the Taliban’s brutal rule.

Future historians will ask how a global superpower like the US seemed so unprepared for Afghanistan’s unravelling. Here’s what they should know: Almost everyone who paid any attention to Afghanistan saw it coming — everyone, that is, except Biden and his insular circle of advisors.