American leaders insisted time and time again that they were "making progress" in Afghanistan. After invading the country to root out Al Qaeda in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government spent 20 years, $2 trillion, and thousands of lives trying to overthrow the former Taliban theocracy that sheltered Al Qaeda and install a new Afghan republic. But in the summer of 2021, the Afghan republic suddenly collapsed, and the Taliban stormed Kabul. U.S. forces withdrew in chaos.
The leadership in Washington was obviously not leveling with the American public. Bodyguard of Lies, a documentary directed by Dan Krauss that premiers September 23 on Paramount+, exposes exactly what those lies are. Krauss, who has been reporting on the war in Afghanistan for years, interviews high-ranking U.S. officials, rank-and-file American veterans, ordinary Afghans, and even the Taliban. He also dips into an archive of private recordings and documents, released thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Washington Post, in which American officials admit things that they wouldn't say in public.
On April 17, 2002, President George W. Bush said in a speech that previous empires have failed in Afghanistan, but "we're not gonna repeat that mistake." The same day, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dictated a memo in 2002 asking how to get out of Afghanistan—and ending with the exclamation "Help!" A few months later, Rumsfeld told the press that "I don't do quagmires." The movie is filled with examples of similar duplicity over the next two decades.
