the obama administration unveiled fifty benchmarks to measure success in afghanistan. people like me may obsess about them, but probably few people will remember these benchmarks months or years from now.
that's what happened in iraq. when bush announced the surge he also announced 18 benchmarks for measuring the success of that strategy. most of those benchmarks were never fully met, but it's still common wisdom that the surge worked. no one cares that based on the president's own criteria, the strategy failed.
if americans stop dying in afghanistan, no one will care whether the mission met any benchmarks. if things get worse (for americans, of course), then maybe we'll hear about missed benchmarks.
