(This opinion essay was first published for American Purpose on September 17, 2021.)

There’s no shortage of misconceptions when it comes to our involvement in Afghanistan.

American withdrawal from Afghanistan over the last month has elicited an unprecedented volume of “hot takes,” journalistic provocation based on thin information. Everyone seems to have an opinion, whether they could identify Afghanistan on a map or not. And, predictably, the withdrawal has sparked vigorous partisan finger-pointing. In this polemical hothouse, there are at least seven widely held myths that underlie public perceptions of the war as well as the determination of many politicians to justify urgent, unconditional U.S. withdrawal.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on the American Purpose’s page here.)