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The killing of Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan — the place planning for the Sept. 11 strikes started greater than 20 years in the past, the place the West as soon as appeared poised to remake a fractured nation, and the place the terrorist chief may really feel comfy once more after the Taliban takeover final summer season — speaks volumes about what America achieved in a 20-year experiment. It additionally says lots about the place it failed.
On one degree, it was a reminder of how little has modified. The Taliban are as soon as once more answerable for the nation. They had been harboring the recognized chief of Al Qaeda, simply as they had been 21 years in the past. He was comfortably established in a secure home there, so comfy that his household was close by, and he had routines to soak up the sunshine.
On one other degree, it was a reminder of how surveillance, drones and distant killing have modified the character of the hunt for the terrorist group’s management. In 2001, America’s drones had been largely nonetheless unarmed. Within the ensuing 21 years they grew to become armed, and the C.I.A. and the U.S. navy perfected the artwork of looking what they referred to as high-value targets.
To get al-Zawahri took endurance — 20 years of endurance. It validated President Biden’s dedication that, even after withdrawing U.S. troops final 12 months, he would proceed counterterrorism operations.
Which takes the story to at least one extra lesson: If the unique goal of going into Afghanistan was working these sorts of operations — discovering the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults and the era of terrorists who adopted — then possibly it was doable to pursue the mission with out attempting to remake the nation.
However the mission morphed. President George W. Bush celebrated the primary inklings of democracy — elections — and the truth that ladies may go to high school. Army items helped irrigate the fields and constructed a courtroom system. For some time, America imagined it was constructing a loud, nascent democracy. However someway it by no means took maintain. Drones couldn’t remake the underlying society, or rout the Taliban, who, in many various kinds, have all the time existed. America succeeded on the tactical, however not on the strategic. Bin Laden and al-Zawahri had been dropped at justice, however simply because the British found within the nineteenth century and the Soviets within the twentieth, the society proved far tougher to change. Al-Zawahri is gone. The Taliban nonetheless rule.
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