The US and its allies rushing to evacuate personnel from Kabul join a long list of the world’s greatest powers whose missions in Afghanistan ended in failure.
Since the days of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, many have sought to conquer the territory now known as Afghanistan. The country has long been known as the “graveyard of empires”, evoking its reputation for thwarting the expansionist ambitions of occupiers from imperial Britain to Soviet Russia.
The US has spent an estimated $1tn in the country since it invaded in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks, toppling the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban regime.
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