I heard a good question on a C-span show a little while ago...
The person wondered how anyone could think that trying to instill a democratic type government in an area of the world, among a Muslim nation....that had been operating differently for 1300 years....would be either "easy or quick"...
IOW...he wanted to know why what has been accomplished so far hasn't been CELEBRATED...rather than what hasn't been done, being used as a reason to quit.
When you ask about benchmarks...and think about the above question....just how DOES one set benchmarks for a goal that has NEVER happened??