There are only two options, win the war or lose it. Being anti Iraq/Afghanistan war can either mean tail-between-legs defeatism, or get it over with by winning decisively. I don’t believe playing for a tie is an option any sane human believes in (hence Obama is not sane).
Agree completely. But to win that war, you have to decide what "winning looks like" before you go in, in order to take steps to achieve it. And you have to be realistic about your goals based on the true situation is on the ground -- not what you'd like it to be.
The fact is that we have never defined what "winning" looks like in any sort of realistic and consistent way for Afghanistan. Is it "killing bin Laden"? Is it "wiping out "al Qaeda"? Is it "wiping out the Taliban"? The fact is that one even talks about getting bin Laden anymore. Al Qaeda just gets up and moves on to destabilizing the next country, and the next country until our military forces are tuckered out following them around. Wiping out the Taliban is unrealistic. As much as being a woman, I'd like to see the Taliban's head on a plate, I have to agree with Chuck DeVore. The best we can do is to show the Taliban that it is unprofitable to support al Qaeda, nothing more.