"So many messengers. What's the message? . . . not exactly the question you put to a soldier."

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NPR: Afghan Mission Murky As Troop Deployment Looms

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(Retired Lt. Gen. David Barno) was the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan until 2005, and he recently returned to southern Afghanistan for an update. Barno says the "first and foremost" challenge there will be to unify what he calls a diverse and fragmented NATO undertaking.

Among military leaders, Barno says, there are far too many different plans for fighting the insurgents. Then there's the question of how 17,000 new U.S. troops will change the equation.

"Early in 2007, I was in Karzai's office, and he dismissed everyone except me," recalls Gen. Dan McNeill. In 2007, McNeill was the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. But that day, Karzai wanted to talk about an earlier time, back around 2002.

"He made some comments about 'Well, it was easier then,' and I didn't recall it that way, so I sort of laughed. And he said, 'Oh yeah. It was much easier then.' He said, 'You know, today it's so difficult.' I said, 'What's difficult about today? You've got a lot more help. The country has already seen a lot of reconstruction. What is it that bothers you?' And he looked at me, and he said, 'So many messengers. What's the message?' "

"I did not answer him," McNeill recalls. "That was a question that should have been better put to some diplomat. That's not exactly the question you put to a soldier."

report: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100940337