![]() “The past five years are not heartening,” he said, “but there are pockets of progress. “What’s the best-guess estimate for getting things headed in the right direction? If a year from now there is no demonstrable progress in governance, what do we do?”Īgain, Biden asked: “If the government doesn’t improve and if you get the troops, in a year, what would be the impact?”įinally, Eikenberry responded. Biden was swinging hard at McChrystal, Gates and Petraeus.”īiden pressed on. Woodward’s next lines are the most telling: “No one recorded an answer in their notes. Instead of following Biden’s lead, the Obama administration allowed the carnage to drag on fruitlessly for another 12 years. “But we need to help achieve and improve security and, as noted, regain the initiative and turn some recent tactical gains into operational momentum,” Petraeus said, adding that he “strongly agreed” with McChrystal’s pitch for a larger force.īiden cut in: “If the government’s a criminal syndicate a year from now, how will troops make a difference?” he asked.īiden was getting at something fundamental: Did anybody believe what the generals were proposing was actually possible? Biden’s questions were largely ignored by the war planners, but the conversation held in that meeting makes clear that the answer was readily available by 2009: It was not possible and would collapse quickly once U.S. “I understand the government is a criminal syndicate,” he said. Petraeus, when he spoke, acknowledged what had become obvious. “Right now we’re dealing with an extraordinarily corrupt government,” he said. and the Afghan government were even aligned. “We talk about clear, hold and build, but we actually must include transfer into this,” Eikenberry said, adding that to eventually withdraw, the transfer was key.Įikenberry said he “would challenge assumption” that the U.S. Eikenberry followed with a pessimistic 10-minute assessment of the situation and pinpointed another logical failure that would manifest itself more than a decade later. “In your estimation, can we, can that be achieved in the next year?”Įikenberry told Biden no, it was not possible, because there was no strong, reliable partner in Afghanistan. Biden turned to Karl Eikenberry, a former general who was now ambassador to Afghanistan. “And that our success relies upon having a reliable, a strong partner in governance to make this work?” “As I hear what you’re saying, as I read your report, you’re saying that we have about a year,” Biden said to McChrystal. The pivotal meeting is captured in Bob Woodward’s 2010 book “Obama’s Wars.”Īdvocates for an expanded war found their most nettlesome opponent in Joe Biden. Doing so would allow for a counterinsurgency strategy, they claimed, and would give the Americans time to recruit and train a larger Afghan national army and police force. Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus, along with much of the military brass, were pushing for a troop increase of 40,000 to 85,000 in Afghanistan.
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