EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The American decision to leave Afghanistan to lessen the burden on the domestic economy, protect US troops, boost the nation’s security, and put an end to the “Forever War” in the Middle East has delivered the opposite of all those objectives and made the world a more dangerous place.
The beginnings of Afghanistan’s miseries, which led to the disastrous rise of the extremist Taliban and which are turning the failed state into a major threat to the democratic world, can be traced back to the 1970s, when an explosive mix of Soviet Communism and native Islamism started to blow back against Western liberal ideals in Afghanistan.
At that time, Muhammad Zahir Shah had been on the country’s throne for four decades. The mild-mannered, Western-educated king wished to modernize his country. He introduced a constitutional democracy and tried to open up the civil sphere by granting universal suffrage, promoting civil rights, and enfranchising women in what was a highly conservative tribal society.
