The Great Mystery of Afghanistan in 2005-2006

Via Attackerman , I see that John Hannah, a former aide to Dick Cheney, is still scratching his head about what went wrong in Afghanistan: Ever since last year’s presidential campaign , there’s been an unfortunate tendency to assess America’s Afghan campaign as one long, steady downward spiral to disaster. “Eight years of drift,” according to Obama administration officials seeking to explain their lengthy deliberations over strategy and troop numbers. But, as Stephens suggests, the reality is a good deal more complex. The fact is that, after a period of genuine progress following the Taliban’s removal in late 2001, the situation in Afghanistan only began to deteriorate markedly between 2005 and 2006. Suicide attacks quintupled that year. Remotely de...