Why The U.S. Has Continued To Fight In Afghanistan
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Eighteen years into fighting the nation’s longest war, the U.S. is trying to find an exit ramp for the 14,000 troops still in Afghanistan. Here’s President Trump earlier this week in his State of the Union address.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Great nations do not fight endless wars.
MARTIN: U.S. delegates have been trying to negotiate a political settlement with the Taliban. But what happens to the fight against terrorism, which was the entire reason for the U.S. invasion in 2001? NPR’s David Welna has this report.
DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: Twelve years ago, George W. Bush, the president who first ordered troops into Afghanistan, was speaking at an American Legion convention. He explained that the U.S. was still fighting in Afghanistan years after toppling the Taliban regime because of all the terrorist groups holed up there.