Obama’s Great Afghanistan Gamble: Charts

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The guardrails protecting democracy may have buckled, but they are not broken. Autocratic forces are ascendant in America, but the story isn’t fully written. Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against Trump’s unrestrained exercise of power. He rails against the press as the “enemy of the people,” because he hates the scrutiny that comes from fearless investigative reporting. Our nonprofit newsroom is built for the chaos ahead. Please stand with us.

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spending in afghanistan

boots on the ground

coalition casualties

Sources: Congressional Research Service (crs); Intl. Security Assistance Force; dod; nato; iCasualties. The 2009 projected troop figures include 17,000 soldiers slated for deployment this year.