By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer
Ten years after America began its war in Afghanistan, the decade can be measured by different yardsticks: Dollars. Deployments. Deaths.
Or maybe this striking fact: Some soldiers have childhood memories of when the fighting began.
A decade is longer than the time ground troops were in Vietnam, longer than the Revolutionary War (both eight years). The invasion of Afghanistan – launched about four weeks after the 9/11 attacks – introduced the nation to a new enemy, the Taliban, and a seemingly endless mission, the global war on terror.
For most of the decade, the war in Afghanistan was eclipsed by Iraq, where there were more troops, more deaths, more headlines. That situation has reversed in recent years as Afghanistan has captured the spotlight, with a surge in U.S. forces, a spike in violence and the killing of Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan – which generated new debate about the rationale for the war.