General David H. Petraeus, US Army (Ret.)

Partner, KKR & Chairman, KKR Global Institute

1y

I have been a bit struck by the Washington Post series on Afghanistan and its conclusion that American leaders did not tell the truth about what was going on in Afghanistan. I have also been a bit surprised at assertions that the documents obtained were hugely revelatory, given that the Special Inspector General regularly published documents and lessons learned reports criticizing aspects of the campaign. I generally agree with the article below. Yes, there were many mistakes made. Yes, Afghan corruption, political infighting, and ineptitude were maddening. And, certainly, it is hard to help establish the rule of law in a country whose major export crop is illegal. But most of us tried to be as accurate and as measured as possible. In an interview with Diane Sawyer in my final months as the Commander in Afghanistan, I refused to even use the word "winning," stating merely that we had achieved hard-fought progress, but that it was fragile and reversible (words I used, as well, in my March 15, 2011 testimony to the SASC). (And we had achieved progress, reversing the momentum on the battlefield that the Taliban had enjoyed until the summer of 2010.) https://lnkd.in/epxFghS

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