The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness
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The Afghanistan Papers
The Washington Post’s efforts to obtain the Afghanistan documents illustrate how difficult it can be for journalists — or any citizen — to pry public information from the government. Led by Craig Whitlock, Investigative Reporter, we pursued a Freedom of Information Act request through three years of legal battles in order to access these papers and share them directly with you. See how Post journalists worked rigorously, pouring through over 2,000 documents and hundreds of insider interviews, to deliver the full story. Because information has impact.
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At war with the truth
U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it, an exclusive Post investigation found.
By Craig Whitlock
Dec. 9, 2019
The Afghanistan Papers, revisited
Revisit the Afghanistan Papers: hundreds of secret interviews with top U.S. officials admitting in private what they never said in public — that the war in Afghanistan was not going well.
By The Post Reports
August 20, 2021
The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war
For nearly two decades of fighting in Afghanistan, U.S. leaders have sounded a constant refrain: We are making progress. Government interview records obtained by The Washington Post after a three-year legal battle show otherwise.
By The Washington Post
Dec 9, 2019
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