Afghanistan Papers

The Afghanistan Papers are a set of interviews relating to the war in Afghanistan undertaken by the United States military prepared by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that was published by The Washington Post in 2019 following a Freedom of Information Act request.^[1]^[2]^[3] The documents reveal that high-ranking officials generally held the opinion that the war was unwinnable while keeping this view hidden from the public.^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6] Due to the difficulty of creating objective metrics to demonstrate success, information was manipulated for the duration of the conflict.^[7] NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro, comparing the documents with the Pentagon Papers, noted the revelation of what constituted "explicit and sustained efforts . . . to deliberately mislead the public."^[4]

^ ^a ^b Craig Whitlock (December 9, 2019). "Confidential documents reveal U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
^ Myers, Meghann (2019-12-09). "Senior enlisted leaders react to Afghanistan papers: 'I've never been lied to'". Military Times. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
^ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake. "POLITICO Playbook: America's longest war finally has its Pentagon Papers moment". POLITICO. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
^ ^a ^b Beaumont, Peter (2019-12-09). "Afghanistan papers reveal US public were misled about unwinnable war". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
^ Peter Beaumont (December 9, 2019). "US lies and deception spelled out in Afghanistan papers' shocking detail". The Guardian. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
^ Ryan Pickrell (December 9, 2019). "Top US officials knew the Afghanistan war was unwinnable and 'lied' — even as costs rose to $1 trillion and 2,351 American troop's lives". Business Insider. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
^ Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (2019-12-09). "Documents Reveal U.S. Officials Misled Public on War in Afghanistan". The New York Times.