What our prime ministers said about Australia’s longest-running military engagement, the War in Afghanistan. Michelle Fahy’s report follows secret information about the Afghanistan war obtained by The Washington Post.

Key revelations by The Washington Post:

  • Behind-the-scenes consensus was that the war was not well-managed. There was no strategy, no real plan, no real knowledge of who the enemy was.
  • What started as retaliation for 9/11 to fight al Qaeda soon became muddled. Within six months, al Qaeda’s leaders had been captured, killed or had fled.
  • Confusion reigned about why Americans were still there, and what the US was fighting for. Planning was a disaster.
  • Leaders knew things were not going well. Yet, in public, they were claiming “it’s a tough fight, but we’re making progress: we just need more money and more troops.”