Exit from Afghanistan: A Conversation

The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University and the Newport Council for International Visitors are co-producing 2012 Great Decisions lecture series.

National security experts, Dr. Bernard Finel, associate professor of national security strategy at the National War College and Dr. Mark Jacobson, senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund will discuss the United States exit from Afghanistan.

America’s war in Afghanistan began weeks after the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.  Within weeks, the Taliban had been routed.  But for more than a decade since, American forces have been engaged in a difficult and violent process to create a state, defeat insurgents, and leave a stable Afghanistan behind.

President Barack Obama campaigned for president on the idea of leaving Iraq to focus on Afghanistan, and the signature of this refocusing was a surge of U.S. forces into Afghanistan with the purpose of creating the security conditions for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2014. 

But questions remain.  Did the United States need a “surge” to achieve its policy goals in Afghanistan?  What has been achieved in the last decade, plus, of fighting?  How ready are Afghanistan’s forces to protect their own security?  How can we assess U.S. policy in Afghanistan today?

Lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is very limited. Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP by July 30 to pellcenter@salve.edu or 401.341.2927.