19 true things generals can't say in public about the Afghan war: A helpful primer - By Tom Ricks | The Best Defense: "My list of things to remember I can't sayH/T Ace.
Pakistan is now an enemy of the United States.
We don't know why we are here, what we are fighting for, or how to know if we are winning.
The strategy is to fight, talk, and build. But we're withdrawing the fighters, the Taliban won't talk, and the builders are corrupt.
Karzai's family is especially corrupt.
We want President Karzai gone but we don't have a Pushtun successor handy.
But the problem isn't corruption, it is which corrupt people are getting the dollars. We have to help corruption be more fair.
Another thing we'll never stop here is the drug traffic, so the counternarcotics mission is probably a waste of time and resources that just alienates a swath of Afghans.
Making this a NATO mission hurt, not helped. Most NATO countries are just going through the motions in Afghanistan as the price necessary to keep the US in Europe
Yes, the exit deadline is killing us. ..."
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