Didn't We Go to Afghanistan to Punish Bin Laden?

U.S. Officials Offer Dismal Review of War in Afghanistan National Security Team Says More Troops From NATO Allies Are Necessary By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, February 8, 2009; 9:51 AM MUNICH, Feb. 8 -- President Obama's national security team gave a dire assessment Sunday of the war in Afghanistan, with one member calling it a challenge "much tougher than Iraq" and others hinting that it could take years to turn around. U.S. officials said more troops were urgently needed, both from the United States and its NATO allies, to counter the increasing strength of the Taliban and other warlords opposed to the central government in Kabul.

But they also said new approaches were needed to untangle an inefficient and conflicting array of civilian-aid programs that have wasted billions of dollars. "NATO's future is on the line here," Richard Holbrooke, the State Department's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told an international security conference here. "It…