Interesting article in the Times this morning about the failure in Afghanistan (you expected something else from these folks?). It contains the usual litany of failures, incompetence and faith based governance. Nothing new there.
I found two things interesting. One was the fact that almost all of the sources were on the record. Apparently the fear that the Bush machine inspired in the early going has dissipated. Bush may have the Democrats cowed, but no one else seems frightened.
The second thing that struck me was this:
Despite warnings about the Taliban’s resurgence from Mr. Neumann, Mr. Khalilzad and military officials, Ms. Rice said, “there was no doubt that people were surprised that the Taliban was able to regroup and come back in a large, well-organized force.”
Poor Condi has a knack for pleading that the foreseeable is unforseeable. No one could have predicted that people would use planes as weapons, no one had any idea that the Niger weapons claims were overblown, and no one had any idea that the Taliban might regroup. Except the experts, but who listens to them?
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