{"content":[{"text":"FDD \n EVENTS","bbox":{"left":0.114139,"top":0.038281,"width":0.151181,"height":0.08882999999999999}},{"text":"Afghanistan After America’s Withdrawal \n Featuring Amb. Husain Haqqani, David Kilcullen, and Bill Roggio \n Moderated by Nancy Youssef \n Introduction by Clifford D. May","bbox":{"left":0.323779,"top":0.039674,"width":0.45956500000000006,"height":0.079181}},{"text":"MAY: Hello and thanks for joining us. I’m Cliff May, FDD’s Founder and President. Today’s discussion comes at a \n critical moment. The withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan is proceeding rapidly – without much attention to the \n likely consequences. As my colleagues at FDD’s Long War Journal have meticulously reported: In the past week alone, \n the Taliban have taken control of at least 10 district centers in four different regions of Afghanistan.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.162375,"width":0.882154,"height":0.067694}},{"text":"I argue in my most recent column that the odds that the Afghan government will survive without American air \n support, intelligence, training, and other assistance are not good. I quote General H.R. McMaster who recently said he \n was puzzled by how many Americans have fallen for the delusion “that wars end when we leave – as if the Taliban will \n look around [and say]: ‘Hey, the Americans are gone. Let’s just stop fighting!’”","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.244319,"width":0.859936,"height":0.06757000000000002}},{"text":"I quote also Leon Panetta who has noted that if we abandon to the tender mercies of the Taliban those who have \n struggled alongside us, in particular, Afghan translators, “that sends a terrible message” to both our allies and our \n adversaries. You’ll find my column on FDD’s website, among other outlets.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.326139,"width":0.8574039999999999,"height":0.050902}},{"text":"We have an expert panel with us today to discuss what’s happening and likely to happen in Afghanistan, and its \n ramifications for Afghans and for Americans.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.391292,"width":0.840128,"height":0.034235000000000015}},{"text":"Husain Haqqani is a senior fellow and director for South and Central Asia at Hudson Institute. He served as \n Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.439778,"width":0.814806,"height":0.03423599999999999}},{"text":"David Kilcullen is an Australian-American soldier and scholar. He previously served as a chief strategist at the State \n Department, and we’re honored that he serves on the Board of Advisors for FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.488264,"width":0.8804639999999999,"height":0.03423599999999999}},{"text":"Finally, my colleague Bill Roggio is editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, which reports authoritatively and granularly \n on global conflicts. He has tracked the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan on a district-by-district basis since 2014.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.53675,"width":0.860946,"height":0.034236000000000044}},{"text":"Today’s conversation will be moderated by Nancy Youssef, national security correspondent at the Wall \n Street Journal.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.585236,"width":0.782539,"height":0.034236000000000044}},{"text":"As I hope you know, FDD is a non-partisan research institute exclusively focused on national security and foreign \n policy. We do not accept funds from foreign governments. FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power seeks to \n promote understanding of the defense strategies, policies, and capabilities necessary to deter and, if necessary, defeat \n threats to the freedom, security, and prosperity of Americans and American allies.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.633722,"width":0.861537,"height":0.0675690000000001}},{"text":"For more information on our work, we encourage you to visit our website: FDD.org. You can follow us \n on Twitter @FDD.","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.715542,"width":0.779669,"height":0.034234999999999904}},{"text":"So thanks again for joining us for this important and timely conversation. Nancy, over to you.","bbox":{"left":0.098039,"top":0.764028,"width":0.675329,"height":0.017569000000000057}},{"text":"YOUSSEF: Thanks, Cliff, for that introduction. I’m really looking forward to an enlightening conversation with such \n a great panel. Bill, if you don’t mind, I’d love to start with you because of some of the work you’ve done on the provinces \n and who’s holding control of them. We’ve seen now that the Taliban is moving forces around, near several provincial \n capitals, and what appears to be a staging for taking those areas back, if not now, soon after the US withdrawal. I’d like to \n get your sense of what you think their sort of strategy is? What does a potential Taliban offensive look like? From where \n you sit, where do you see this headed militarily?","bbox":{"left":0.05882,"top":0.795722,"width":0.879098,"height":0.1010279999999999}},{"text":"1","bbox":{"left":0.93219,"top":0.958997,"width":0.008986999999999967,"height":0.01805599999999996}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}