Afghanistan, 8 Years In: How We Got Here

The U.S. Sought the Taliban and Osama bin Laden; But It Has Lost 869 Soldiers - And Thousands More in a Second War

(CBS)  In a break with his predecessor, President Obama has called Afghanistan - not Iraq - the central front in the war on terror.

Back in the spring, he announced there would be a new strategy. He'll be holding another meeting about that with his war council this Wednesday.

One key question - whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, where 869 Americans have been killed in eight years of war. That war that began with a terrorist attack on America and a vow to hunt down those responsible. "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric takes a look back at how we got here.

CBS News Special Report: The Road Ahead

Sept. 11, 2001, was not that first time America had heard from Osama bin Laden.

Since the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the United States had been pressuring the Taliban regime to hand over the al Qaeda leader, believed to be hiding out in Afghanistan and training terrorists at camps there.

They did not comply.

On Oct. 7, 2001, President George Bush made his now famous pronouncement that, "On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan."

By November, the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance had reclaimed Kabul. By Dec. 7, the Taliban stronghold Kandahar had fallen.

"There's no doubt that the United States thought that we had succeeded in Afghanistan, that we had Osama bin Laden on the run, that Al Qaeda could not regroup, that this was a war that was essentially in the bag," said John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security.

With Hamid Karzai in place as the interim leader of Afghanistan, the drum beat of war moved west, to Iraq.

On Sept. 12, 2002, Mr. Bush pronounced at the United Nations that "the conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace."

But, says former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, "The problem was he took his eye off the ball and linked things that didn't go together, which is al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. And so, things got much worse."

By October of 2006, there were 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and just 21,000 in Afghanistan.

"We gave the Taliban time to regroup, chased 'em out of Afghanistan, they regrouped in Pakistan, and now the years of neglect are coming back to haunt us," Nagl said.

The International Council on Security and Development reports that today the Taliban has a presence in 80 percent of the country, up from 54 percent just two years ago.

Making good on a campaign promise, President Obama called for a troop increase in Afghanistan, bringing the number of U.S. troops there to a record 68,000.

[formerdem-2009]

Madeleine Albright was a joke as secretary of state just as you are a joke as a journalist Katie. One has to wonder when Obi-Wan's failures become to much for his media weasels to continue to cover for him what will they do?

[hermitdave]

We got in the Afghan crusade because it was all part of the overall plan of the criminals who planned 9/11/01. The entire fake war on terror is tied together in a very simple plan that worked because of so many very simple people in the western world.

Remember at the end of the Clinton era, America was in good shape, far better shape than the Military Industrial Media Complex. Something had to be done to get the western world back into the money making WAR business. America was also not as much under control as those who planned the Oklahoma City bombing had hoped it would be. Not enough dead people to get congress to pass the strong security bill that those in control wanted. So something bigger was necessary. 9/11/01 gave those who wanted total control power beyond their wildest dreams. The FADDERLAND security bill flew through congress. George Bush fulfilled a dream as he got to play CIC, Blackwater Security laughed all the way to the bank, Cheney's old business buddies started rolling in money.

Now CBS and other managed news companies are asking questions about how we got in the Afghan mess. As if they were not a crucial part of it. After all they had sold out back in Gulf war one when they closed all front line video coverage of the Vietnam style "My God that is a dead American soldier they are covering and a wounded one with blood on his uniform they are loading on a helicopter". Now the new front line war reporters were IN-BED-ED and just told us how good everything was going. Then a real General would get on a Hollywood stage and point at a map. Add some cool noise and bombs and you had the SANITIZED VIDEO GAME new war can be FUN era.

[Oregon_State_OSU]

Afghanistan, 8 Years In: How We Got Here

We had an IDIOT and a Coward of a President named George W. Bush who had no exit plans and left all the hard work to the next President whom ever it was McCain or Obama.

[twomtns]

there is no doubt the U.S. got there because of Bush,Cheney,Rumsfeld,Wolfowitz,Rice etc.
the worst administration from top to bottom the country ever had they ignored all the warning signs prior to 9-11
lied to the population & entered into a war in Iraq under false pretences and created the worst down turn since the crash of 29

[myopinionpal]

How We Got Here? I'll tell you how, it was 4 planes, 2 buildings falling and a pentagon badly damaged and the crashing of flight 93 in Pa. thats how.

[boatdocster]

W - Worst Ever!

[myopinionpal]

Do you remember the look on G.W. Bush face when he was told of the attack while he was at an elementary school in Flordia. Any president in his right mind would of told the students something has come up and I have to leave but no what did he do just sit there with a stupid look on his face!!!

[Oregon_State_OSU]

What Does GOP Stand For ?

Got No Plan = Got Zero Plans = Got No Plans.

NO Plans, NO Plans, Got No Plans !

[jlclancy]

I thought Couric did well again.. last night's broadcast was great.. and the graphics last night was great too.. the Afghanistan THE ROAD AHEAD graphics was better than what they're using. The Evening News graphics they launched in April was ugly.. now I don't have any reasons to watch the Evening News except for Katie and the CBS correspondents.. the Evening News' look sucks

[patriot714]

The U.S. Government continually mires itself into other countries where we should not be treading. The idiots in Washington will never learn their lessons. If they continue to ignore history, we will continue to lose more Americans and then maybe, just maybe, we will think twice about where our interests lie.

[gtocbs]

You know, I watch Katie everynight. And while I do not wish us to be in Iraq or Afghanistan I thought her highlighting Osama and saying Bush took his eye off the ball via Iraq was misleading was only reporting on a part of the past. Why did she not mention that Bill Clinton was offered Osama? Is it because Hillary is coming on tomorrow. That is really sad. Maybe if Pres Clinton had taken action NONE of this that NONE of us want would be happening.

[ibsteve2u]

Remember that you blamed Clinton for Bush's dereliction of duty the next time you say something like "You cannot blame Bush! This is Obama's war now!".