Reply #23: That's what a mission statement is in the military [View All]

[Recursion]

First off, just as an operational point some missions have end goals and others do not (which is why I distinguished between "goal" and "mission" above). But what's so mysterious about the end goal? A government in Kabul that is capable of maintaining control over the territory of Afghanistan. You might think that's not a goal worth having troops in Afghanistan for, or even that the presence of US troops makes that less likely (there are good arguments for both) but I just don't get why you're pretending this goal hasn't been clearly articulated over and over again.

When will "improvements in governance" be complete?

As a practical matter, when the Afghan government asks ISAF to leave.