Delusion #1
In his address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Obama characterized Afghanistan as "a war of necessity" against international terrorism. But the reality is that the Taliban is a polyglot collection of conflicting political currents whose goals are local, not universal jihad.
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The bulletpoint focus, with multiple sources for the evaluations makes a good argument that the occupation of Afghanistan is great folly, and the administration does not see it.
Delusion #2 One casualty of Vietnam was the doctrine of counterinsurgency, the theory that an asymmetrical war against guerrillas can be won by capturing the “hearts and minds” of the people. Of course “hearts and minds” was a pipe dream, obliterated by massive civilian casualties, the widespread use of defoliants, and the creation of “strategic hamlets” that had more in common with concentration camps than villages.
Afghanistan isn’t like Iraq because NATO is behind us. Way behind us.
Where in the North Atlantic is Afghanistan?