Karen Middleton is chief political correspondent for SBS Television and the author of a new book, An Unwinnable War, which tells the political back story to Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan.

On September 11, 2001, Karen was in Washington DC covering former Prime Minister John Howard’s visit. Ten years on, Australia is embroiled in a conflict in Afghanistan which has cost the lives of Australian soldiers and many others, including thousands of Afghan civilians. How exactly did we get from there, to here? And when we finally pull out, what will we leave behind?