Are there clearly defined "winning conditions" in the Afghanistan war, and if so, what are they?

What is the Obama administration's definition of success in Afghanistan?

so "winning" would have to measured one way or another in dollars.

Are you suggesting we need to profit from the war in Afghanistan in order to declare a win?

since those profits are the only reason we are there.

We are spilling a lot of blood and wasting billions of dollars in Afghanistan. All this while 50 million Americans are without health insurance.

It would be nice if we have some clearly defined objectives.

I think the place is just a quagmire, it's high time we get the hell out of there.

"Three Cups of Tea". We lost that war several years ago. Now all we can do is throw money and death at the situation that we let happen through avarice and stupidity.

"How will we know when we're done?"

The answer(s) to that start telling me how much trouble the project is in, an idea of what kind of trouble it is, and the beginning of figuring out how to get it back on track and finished.

Until somebody tries answering that question to me, I really don't know what the goal is. Documents and contracts alone won't tell me. Progress reports alone won't tell me.

Sometimes what it tells me is that the staff working on the project isn't completion focused. Sometimes it tells me that the customer is demanding changes frequently. Sometimes it tells me that the original plan was bad/incomplete and needs to be redone.

But, man. I sure wouldn't want to take on Afghanistan. It has sooooo many dimensions.

and clear goals. He is not satisfied with what is going on.

they don't already exist.

me. But my definition is simple. Come Home. Come Home Now. And Stay Home.

My nephew was involved in two serious skirmishes the past week, in one they were ambushed by the Taliban but managed to get out with no injuries. There were one sentence accounts on a couple of obscure websites I comb for info. He's told us more than that but says I can't say more until they have security clearance.

This is scary shit and he's in the middle of it. I don't know why he is there. He tells us some of the good things they do and how they're building strong relationships with the towns people. But does that win a war? What does a win look like?

* screwed this up when he allowed Cheney to convince him to invade Iraq. It's a big clusterfuck. Fuck you Dick Cheney. Fuck you Donald Rumsfeld. Fuck you George Tenet. And fuck you little bastard Georgie.