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Good morning, everyone. Welcome to brookings. We are here today to discuss afghanistan, as you know. In one sense, it is still a time of year. Hopeful. L 15 years into the afghanistan 9 11,n and 15 years after we know there is an ongoing very struggle throughout the broader middle east and in. Fghanistan is itself we are glad you came to join in this discussion. There are couple of words i want to say before introducing the panelists. The approach here is to have a broad discussion framed by each of them. We will talk amidst ourselves and then go to you for our question. All want to commemorate and and the victims of 9 11, this the families, soldiers and marines. In the and everyone else Intelligence Community who have worked so hard, offered a great sacrifice. It is just a day and moment to reflect and honor them since we are approaching 9 11. Second, in the way of commemorating big event, i want my colleague who has been ....
Know and as we follow the media in these days, the rising concern about young men going to the middle east in search of the hawthorne venture, finding themselves caught up in extremism and violence and in many cases converting either to extremist causes were becoming disillusioned and returning. And this perhaps results in their becoming a problem when they return to the west. There was a book during the cold war which was in 1949 book called the god that failed that was about people who had embraced communism and felt that they were true believers and they realized that that was not the holy grail. Tonights story is very much a story of conversion and an epiphany and eventual loss of faith. And i think he will find it absolutely fascinating. The story is one that was developed initially by doctor mark stout and i will introduce them shortly and he will introduce or speakers. Mark developed the story having encountered the individual of interest on facebook and anything can come out of ....
Retired, you opened your book with this paragraph. Im a United States army general and i lost the global war on terrorism. It is like alcoholics anonymous. Step one is admitting you have a problem. I have a problem. So do my peers. Thanks to our problem, all of america has a problem. Two lost campaigns end a war gone awry. General bolger this is the most serious thing i have ever had to do in my life. Where we are at in this war is not where i ever wanted to be. I owed the American People and an accounting of what i did, what my peers did. To see why and what we can learn from it. Brian whose idea was it to title this book why we lost . General bolger i was going to call it something more neutral. Like the war on terror or Something Like that. After i finished writing it, i realized what i had actually written was a narr ....
General bolger i retired in june of 2013 and i was a lieutenant general. Brian what are you doing now . Daniel i teach history at university of North Carolina raleigh. Brian where were you born . Daniel chicago, illinois. The west side of chicago and then the west suburbs, westchester. Brian and you went to college where . General bolger the citadel, the Military College of south carolina. The army selected me for graduate school. I got my masters and doctorate from the university of chicago. Brian what time did you go to college . General bolger i was commissioned in the army in 1978 and i completed my graduate schooling in 1986. My dad served as an infantryman in the korean war. He rose to the rank of sergeant and then got out. He was proud of his service. The people in my community were volunteering or being drafted for vietnam. Until i was older, i never met anyone who ....
Asian area. That is an important part of it as well. Third, i come to a point that is often overlooked. Professor dobbins made an important point in his address and that is to keep focused on the economic aspects of the future of this relationship. Direct investment. These connection between Central Asian economies and south asian economies, the interest of American Companies and some of the important resources that are tore to work with afghans bring to world markets. The economic aspects of this, whether it is the new silk road, or whether it is promoting afghan businesses, i think it is something americans will be interested in being part of this relationship. Something i dont think that needs much detail is to keep ,ocused on counter extremism not just counterterrorism. Afghanistan is still a very important part of that area as well. The region, economic issues, counte ....