david petraeus

One of the finest military memoirs of any generation is Defeat Into Victory, British Field Marshal Sir William Slim's perceptive account of World War II's torturous Burma campaign, which ended in a resounding victory over Japan. When America's generals write their memoirs about their never-ending war on terror, they'd do well to choose a different title: Victory Into Defeat. That would certainly be more appropriate than those on already published accounts like Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez's Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story (2008), or General Stanley McChrystal's My Share of the Task (2013).

Think about it. America's Afghan War began in 2001 with what was essentially a punitive raid against the Taliban, part of which was mythologized last year in 12 Strong, a Hollywood film with a cavalry charge that echoed the best of John Wayne. That victory, however, quickly turned first into quagmire and then, despite various "surges" and a seemingly endless series of U.S. commanders (17 so far), into a growing sense of inevitable defeat. Today, a resurgent Taliban exercises increasing influence over the hearts, minds, and territory of the Afghan people. The Trump administration's response so far has been a mini-surge of several thousand troops, an increase in air and drone strikes, and an attempt to suppress accurate reports from the Pentagon's special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction about America's losing effort there.