As the president himself acknowledged, the conflict may never be completely over. The new agreement with Karzai makes clear that U.S. funds and U.S. trainers and counter-terrorism forces will be deployed in Afghanistan for at least another decade to come. And many experts on the ground say the readiness of Afghan forces has been overestimated, just as the corruption of Karzai’s government and its lack of support inside the country tend to be underestimated.
But Obama’s closing peroration may still be one of his best campaign lines in 2012: “My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.”
It’s not “Mission Accomplished,” not yet. But it’s not bad. And it may help him to get re-elected.
Mission Accomplished—At Last? - Michael Hirsh - NationalJournal.com
