Fallout management June 27, 2021 The United States is leaving Afghanistan in turmoil after two decades of occupation. The Doha Agreement with the Taliban, bypassing the Ashraf Ghani government, had pulled the carpet from under the feet of the Afghan government – leaving the last rites to be performed by the Afghans themselves in the time-honoured Afghan tradition of military conquest. The strategic objectives of the US in Afghanistan will remain a subject of debate for a long time to come. Whether this was counterterrorism or nation-building only time will tell. If it was counterterrorism, they achieved it long ago after Osama bin Laden’s death and if it was nation-building they have abandoned it as a lost cause.