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"It's all a matter of political will."

I met the man who whispered those words to me -- let's call him Tom -- in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. I suspected he was CIA but never asked.

Then in Marja, Afghanistan, in 2010, when I was following the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, as he took a tour, I was surprised to see Tom outside a small tent. The Marines had just won a hard fought battle here. The surge had just started. Thousands of troops were flooding into Afghanistan.

I didn't stop to say hello to Tom and he didn't acknowledge me. But as I followed the carefully orchestrated media tour he evidently snuck up behind me. He leaned in and whispered those seven words, "It's all a matter of political will."

I turned toward him and he was gone -- just like we were in a spy movie or cartoon -- there he was and then he wasn't.

At the time I thought he was referring to the Afghan government. The Marines were trying to get a new force, the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP), to take over in Marja.

I've been thinking about that meeting -- or non-meeting -- the past few days. I think CIA Tom was referring to us, not the Afghans and not the U.S. -- but us. You and me.

The United States ended combat operations in Afghanistan last week. There was the usual flag lowering handover ceremony in Kabul. A few words, handshakes and it was done. The Afghans take over. Virtually no network news coverage and very little from my print colleagues either. Few noticed or even marked the end of America's longest war. Maybe it's because most of us didn't feel it -- we borrowed to finance the war and only 1 percent of us actually fight.

Massoud Hossaini/AP Photo

Continued here:
War or No War, Winning in Afghanistan 'a Matter of Political Will'

Published January 05, 2015

Jan. 1, 2015: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a ceremony marking the completion of security transition to Afghan security forces in Kabul. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghanistan's president has suggested that the U.S. "re-examine" its plan to withdraw all of the American-led coalition troops from the country by the end of 2016.

"Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas," Ashraf Ghani told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired Sunday evening.

"If both parties, or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives and progress is very real, then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline," he added.

When asked if he had made his view clear to President Barack Obama, Ghani said "President Obama knows me. We don't need to tell each other."

There was no immediate response from the White House, State Department, or Pentagon to Ghani's remarks Sunday night.

The U.S. and its NATO allies marked the formal end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan last week. On Thursday, 13,500 soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force, almost 11,000 of them American, transitioned to a supporting role for Afghanistan's military.

The handover of primary responsibility for battling the Taliban represents the ultimate test for the 350,000 strong Afghan army. Critics have long questioned the local troops' morale, discipline, and competence in the face of Taliban attacks. According to a United Nations report, 2014 was the deadliest year on record for non-combatants in Afghanistan, with at least 3,188 civilians killed in the intensifying war. By comparison, at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces were killed by fighting last year.

Ghani also told CBS that he was concerned about the possibility that Islamic State fighters could make their way to Afghanistan. However, that concern was refuted by ISAF commander Gen. John Campbell, who said that "This is not Iraq. I don't see [Islamic State] coming into Afghanistan like they did into Iraq. The Afghan Security Forces would not allow that."

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