| Summary/Abstract |
On December 28, 2014, the combat mission of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan ended after 13 years. The transition to Afghan responsibility for security was heralded by ritually retiring ISAF’s green flag during a secret ceremony conducted in a basketball gymnasium inside the mission’s Kabul headquarters. During the event, the American ISAF commander, Gen. John F. Campbell, declared, “Our commitment to Afghanistan endures. . . . We are not walking away.” The confidence of the commander was strangely disconnected from the reality of the insurgency raging outside. After all, the ceremony was held surreptitiously out of fear: The Taliban have long been able to conduct deadly attacks at will in the capital.
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