Congressional Digest

Excerpt

Afghanistan has been called the graveyard of empires. For centuries, this key crossroads between the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Persia has been fought over and occupied, but never subdued. The armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union all entered the region and, in the end, withdrew in defeat.
For the past eight years, the United States has been the latest foreign power trying to shape the future of Afghanistan, but after early successes, the effort has been met with political setbacks, an increasingly sophisticated insurgency, and a growing numbers of casu…