The U.S. Military Plainly Failed in Afghanistan. The Generals Need to Answer for It.

David Petraeus — remember him? — recently confided to a nationwide television audience that prospects in Afghanistan are looking grim.

“The situation on the ground,” the retired general told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, “has become increasingly dire with each passing week.”

Mustering all the authority of a former soldier once ranked alongside such immortals as Grant and Sherman, Petraeus went even further.

“I fear we will look back and regret the decision to withdraw,” he said. “Sadly, we may regret that sooner than I had originally thought.”