Don't Despair--Fight

Don't take counsel of your fears on Afghanistan. We can win that fight.

If we had listened to a lot of writers during the Iraq War, we wouldn't have won that campaign. We were constantly told that we couldn't beat an insurgency and that Iraqi forces couldn't take over the fight. Both premises proved wrong. Remember that when you read we should just get out of Afghanistan right now rather than sacrifice more in a futile fight.

It is easy to find pessimism, both on the left and on the right. The head of NATO doesn't see doom. Nor does this analysis. Our enemies have more to worry about than we do.

We have challenges in getting Afghans ready for 2015. And our enemy wants to win. So I'm not complacent about the campaign. But I won't say we are doomed even if that means losing a chance to slam our president. I may have worries over how he leads us at war, but whether or not the president is reducing our chances of victory, victory is very possible.

Focus on winning the campaign. We aren't in Afghanistan as a favor to the Afghans, remember. We are there to protect our homeland from another attack by jihadis who can train and rest in the sanctuary that Afghanistan used to be.

Work the problems--don't become defeatist because our enemy gets in the way. That's what enemies do.

Win in Afghanistan. Stay to cement that win. If not, we'll be back a third time, I dare say.