Afghanistan -- six years later

The war in Afghanistan has lasted six years -- more than the Iraq war and World War II.  And six years later, the Bush Administration can only report limited progress:

A White House assessment of the war in Afghanistan  has concluded that wide-ranging strategic goals that the Bush administration set for 2007 have not been met, even as U.S. and NATO  forces have scored significant combat successes against resurgent Taliban  fighters, according to U.S. officials.

The evaluation this month by the National Security Councilfollowed an in-depth review in late 2006 that laid out a series ofprojected improvements for this year, including progress in security,governance and the economy. But the latest assessment concluded thatonly "the kinetic piece" -- individual battles against Taliban fighters-- has shown substantial progress, while improvements in the otherareas continue to lag, a senior administration official said.

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Comments

[RJ]

Todd, wasn't WWII a combination of two wars -- the one in Asia and the one in Europe? If so, the Asian side started in July, 1937 with Japan invading Manchuria. Thus, WWII was actually about 8 years. The European side of the war started in September 1939 with Germany invading Poland, which would put it on scale with the conflict in Afganistan. RJ.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

I should have said US combat involvement in WWII. That has lasted longer than the Iraq war.