In December 2019, the Washington Post published a trove of confidential government documents on the conduct of the Afghan war over the preceding 18 years. ‘The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War’ revealed a pattern of hiding the truth and presenting overly optimistic assessments about the war that were detached from reality on the ground in Afghanistan. These documents included thousands of pages of notes from interviews with senior U.S. officers, diplomats, Afghan officials, and others. The magnitude of the attempts to cover-up a failing war effort and rampant corruption in the reconstruction effort sent shockwaves through the media.
Craig Whitlock, the award-winning investigative journalist with the Washington Post who broke the story, will discuss with QI's Adam Weinstein the impact of the Afghanistan Papers a year after their release. How were the documents uncovered? What did they reveal — both about Afghanistan, but also about U.S. foreign policymaking and congressional and executive oversight? Audience members who have registered for the webinar will have an opportunity to submit questions.
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