There Is No Military Solution To The

There Are Some Ideas That Will Translate From Iraq To Afghanistan And There Are Many That Will Not. The First Lesson Of Counterinsurgency, In Fact, Is That Every Situation Is Truly Unique, Has Its Own Context, Its Own Specific Set Of Factors - And You Have To Understand That Context In Enormous Detail To Be Able To Craft A Sound And Comprehensive Approach.

Let's Remember That The Reason We Are There Is That We Have Vital Interests In Afghanistan, Hugely Important National Interests, As Do The Other Countries Involved.

President Obama Has Said That Our Aspirations Should Be Realistic. We Are Not Going To Turn One Of The Poorest Countries In The World, That Was Plunged Into 30 Years Of War, Into An Advanced, Industrialized, Western-style Democracy. What We Want To Achieve Is Afghanistan's Capacity To Secure And Govern Itself.

Us Forces Have Been Increased [in Afghanistan ] From Some 21,000 To About 31,000 Over The Past Two Years And A Number Of Coalition Countries Have Also Increased Their Forces, There Still Are Not Sufficient Troops.

I Did A Week-long Assessment In 2005 At (then Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld's Request. Following Our Return, I Told Him That Afghanistan Was Going To Be The Longest Campaign Of What We Then Termed "the Long War."