Is Afghanistan Worth Winning?

The Washington punditocracy is atwitter over the release of Bob Woodward's latest book, "Obama's Wars." The book recounts the debates within President Obama's inner council over the military's recommendation for a troop surge in Afghanistan along the lines of President Bush's 2007 troop surge in Iraq. Mr. Obama is portrayed as thoughtful and deliberative in deciding upon a compromise that grants the military a smaller troop surge than it had requested and announcing the start of troop withdrawals in mid-2011. Lost in the discussion of the book and the Afghanistan war now entering its 10th year - is the larger question of whether the Afghanistan war is worth winning