The Washington Post, "Afghanistan gains will be lost quickly after drawdown, U.S. intelligence estimate warns": Another Obama Overseas Disaster

Those who regularly read this blog know that I have consistently opposed US ground involvement in Afghanistan, which is a costly exercise in futility. If you decide to fight, you need to know when and where. Well, the inanity of Obama's Afghanistan surge is now highlighted by a Washington Post article entitled "Afghanistan gains will be lost quickly after drawdown, U.S. intelligence estimate warns" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/afghanistan-gains-will-be-lost-quickly-after-drawdown-us-intelligence-estimate-warns/2013/12/28/ac609f90-6f32-11e3-aecc-85cb037b7236_story.html?hpid=z1) by Ernesto Londoño, Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller, which informs us:

"A new American intelligence assessment on the Afghan war predicts that the gains the United States and its allies have made during the past three years are likely to have been significantly eroded by 2017, even if Washington leaves behind a few thousand troops and continues bankrolling the impoverished nation, according to officials familiar with the report.

. . . .

Some have interpreted the intelligence assessment as an implicit indictment of the 2009 troop surge, which President Obama authorized under heavy pressure from the U.S. military in a bid to strengthen Afghan institutions and weaken the insurgency. The senior administration official said the surge enabled the development of a credible and increasingly proficient Afghan army and made it unlikely that al-Qaeda could reestablish a foothold in the country where the Sept. 11 attacks were plotted."

How many soldiers were lost owing to this mistake? How many billions of dollars were wasted?

Thank you, President Obama, for the gift that keeps giving.