THE USIP BOOKSTORE IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE 

In How We Missed the Story, Second Edition, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Roy Gutman extends his investigation into why two successive U.S. administrations failed to head off the assaults of 9/11 and to look at the U.S. military intervention that followed. Anyone who thinks Afghanistan doesn't matter, or that Washington can walk away once again, is "missing the story."

In the second edition of How We Missed the Story, Roy Gutman updates the already compelling case he made for the necessity for U.S. leaders to understand the culture and history of Afghanistan before the invasion of 2001. Those in the highest reaches of America's foreign policy establishment will find it an essential guide to avoiding the blunders of the past. Academics will embrace it as essential reading for our next generation of leaders. And the public will at last have an explanation of why we were not able to win our nation's longest war.

Bill Belding, School of International Service, American University

In How We Missed the Story, Second Edition, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Roy Gutman extends his investigation into why two successive U.S. administrations failed to head off the assaults of 9/11 and to look at the U.S. military intervention that followed. With American forces due to withdraw in 2014 from a country far from stable, he suggests that the longest ever U.S. military intervention was doomed by the same flawed outlook that prevailed in the 1990s. During that twenty-five-year span, U.S. policymakers showed little interest in the country's history and culture and assumed Afghanistan could serve principally as a platform for attacking U.S. foes. Gutman contends that the key to preventing a reversion to radical jihadism lies in acknowledging the enormous sacrifices Afghans made in the 1980s war and and committing to the country's long-term stability. Anyone who thinks Afghanistan doesn't matter, or that Washington can walk away once again, is "missing the story."

Expanded by nearly a third, this new edition focuses on American missteps from 1989 through 2012. Gutman draws upon his own research and interviews, beginning with the Soviet withdrawal that gave way to the American withdrawal of the 1990s and the ensuing security vacuum Islamic militants used to American detriment. While many political figures and outside observers blame the U.S. lack of preparedness for the 9/11 attacks on intelligence and law enforcement agencies, Gutman argues that the strategic failure prior to 9/11 lay in U.S. foreign policy. Addressing 9/11 solely with a counterterrorism approach, Washington "missed the story" and failed to put things right. By going to war in Iraq, it effectively abandoned Afghanistan again. This study also illuminates American engagement in the broader world after the Cold War and asks: Whatever happened to foreign policy?

Anyone who wants to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, whether a general reader, scholar, or government official needs to know How We Missed the Story.

About the Author

Roy Gutman is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who currently serves as Middle East correspondent for McClatchy newspapers.


Related Research & Analysis

Understanding the Implications of the Taliban’s Opium Ban in Afghanistan

Understanding the Implications of the Taliban’s Opium Ban in Afghanistan

Thursday, December 12, 2024

The Taliban’s opium ban, coupled with Afghan farmers’ replacement of poppy largely with low-value wheat, is likely to worsen dissatisfaction and political tensions. The Taliban’s persistence in enforcing the ban has been notable, especially in 2024. If the ban remains in place, it would demonstrate the regime’s strength but also worsen rural poverty, increase dissatisfaction among landholders and spur political instability. This will likely lead to increased humanitarian needs and more pressures for outmigration to nearby countries and beyond, both of which are of interest to the U.S. and other Western countries. Conversely, if the ban weakens in response to pressures and resistance, a revival of widespread poppy cultivation could undermine the regime’s authority. Aid alone will not offset the economic shock of the ban, nor stimulate the long-term growth needed to effectively combat the opium problem.

Type: Analysis

How Afghanistan’s Economy Can Survive Shrinking Shipments of U.N. Cash Aid

How Afghanistan’s Economy Can Survive Shrinking Shipments of U.N. Cash Aid

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Afghanistan’s precarious economy is facing a new set of multidimensional risks as humanitarian aid — delivered in massive shipments of U.S. cash dollars — shrinks rapidly amid competing demands from other crises around the world. The dollar inflows, moved under U.N. auspices, have helped stabilize the Afghan economy, cover its mammoth trade deficit, and inject monetary liquidity into commerce. With much smaller cash infusions, in line with a general reduction in aid, the suffering of Afghanistan’s poverty-stricken population is likely to increase.

Type: Analysis

View All Research & Analysis