Brain Fertilizer

I can describe it one paragraph:

In Afghanistan, at this same point after the initial US forces put their boots on the ground, the Afghani military had already begun taking over much of the combat/engagement responsibility. After we had been there one year, the casualty report consisted mainly of Afganis. Sure, they had a decade of experience fighting the Soviets, but so did the Taliban we were fighting there. But in Iraq, at the first sign of trouble, the military deserts en masse and the police go home, if they don't actually join the fighting on the side of the insurgents.

Until we solve that problem, it doesn't really matter what we do.