Anthony Cordesman arges that better data to measure progress in Afghanistan and Iraq are needed. He says that too many current measures of progress have little or no value, report meaningless nation-wide data, quantify the unimportant, or are more designed to “spin” immediate success than win real victory over time. The true complexities, uncertainties, and risks involved in dealing with a host of ethnic, sectarian, tribal, and regional problems are downplayed or ignored, leading to assumptions that insurgent groups are unpopular and that US, NATO, and Afghan government are assumed to have large-scale support—assumptions that may well be incorrect.
