Afghanistan: what did the West get wrong?

Cindy Yu interviews Dr Mike Martin and Andy Owen, click screenshot

I meant to post this the other day, then boom! the Taliban reach Kabul.... So, kind of overtaken by events. Which wouldn't have surprised these two, though.

Still, it's a very interesting interview, from 9 August, with a couple of guys that know a lot about Afghanistan and certainly add to my understanding of the Taliban and its various factions. 

The West’s mission in Afghanistan was clearly a failure - but what exactly went wrong? As the Taliban take their third provincial capital, Andy Owen, (bottom right, above) a former intelligence officer who spent time in the country, writes in this week’s issue that the West never understood Afghanistan enough. He joins Cindy on the show, together with Dr Mike Martin, author of An Intimate War, and a former British Army officer who spent two years in Helmand.