A Case for Continuing America's Longest War

A college professor with significant fieldwork in Afghanistan has published an article that makes the case for keeping a force of approximately 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014. He claims that al Qaeda is still a viable and dangerous force and closely linked to the Taliban.  The danger of a total U.S. withdrawal is the Taliban will be able to keep their sanctuary areas in Pakistan, enlarge their control of Pashtun areas of Afghanistan, and harbor al Qaeda terrorists (and their training camps).  He also feels that if the Taliban regain control of part or all of Afghanistan it would reverse much of the hard work the coalition has done over the past ten years to help rebuild Afghanistan.  Read his online article entitled "Afghanistan: The Argument of Continuing America's Longest War", History News Network, February 2, 2012.

Brian Glyn Williams is an Associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.  He is the author of Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to America's Longest War.  The book is adapted from a field manual he wrote for the U.S. Army based on fieldwork he conducted in Afghanistan.  His book can be purchased online at Amazon.com at the link below:

Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to America's Longest War