Tuesday, August 31, 2021 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM EDT
Online Location, https://gmu.zoom.us/j/99626272064?pwd=NU5TSDY3ZHpnT1lqbWFCczJSdnIyQT09
The war in Afghanistan began on September 11, 2001, with desperate people falling to their deaths to escape the flames of the burning Twin Towers, and it ended nearly 20 years later with desperate people falling to their deaths from a departing plane to escape the conflagration of Taliban rule. In between, the United States waged a 20-year campaign to destroy the Al-Qaida network, remove the Taliban from power, and render Afghanistan unfit as a sanctuary for terrorists by turning it into a western-style democracy. The United States and its Afghan and NATO allies suffered considerable losses for modest--and fleeting--gains. The end of America's longest war and the chaos of Afghanistan's fall to Taliban rule are an inflection point for us to consider the reach and limits of American power.
Please join us for an online panel to discuss the history of the Afghanistan War, comparisons between the Fall of Kabul and the Fall of Saigon, impacts on American Afghanistan War veterans, and implications for America's Global War on Terror. The event will consists of a moderated discussion among panelists with ample time for audience Q&A.
Panelists include:
The event will be moderated by Zachary Schrag, Professor of History in the Department of History & Art History and Director of the MA Program in History at George Mason. Prof. Schrag's research and teaching interests include American cities, technology, and public policy in the 20th & 21st centuries.
This event is free and open to the public via Zoom.
Tuesday, August 31, 7-8:30 PM ET
For questions about this event, please contact Meredith Lair at mLair@gmu.edu.
Sponsored by the Department of History & Art History.
