Former U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday that there was a long list of reasons why the United States lost the war in Afghanistan, culminating in this week's takeover of Kabul by the Taliban.
Galbraith started by noting that the corruption within the U.S.-backed Afghan government was a longstanding problem that dated back decades.
"The corruption, I think, began with the succession of fraudulent elections, Karzai's second term, Ashraf Ghani's two terms," he said. "When you have corrupt power brokers stealing elections, it's awfully hard for you as the top man to do anything about corruption. And that went through the entire system."
Galbraith then ran down how American failures to create a stable government led many Afghans to run back to the Taliban.
"We built roads, billions on roads, to help subsistence farmers raise their incomes to get their product to market," he said. "What happened? Corrupt police set up checkpoints, robbed the farmers. The net result was that the farmers, you know, were alienated. They became recruits for the Taliban."
Galbraith also described American strategy in the country as "the ultimate formula for disaster."
Watch the video below.
'Ultimate formula for disaster': Former US official bluntly explains why US failed in Afghanistanwww.youtube.com
