General Dunford the ineffectual commander of ISAF in Afghanistan leaves that country with no notable successes. Essentially he was promoted out of that position to head the U.S. M.C.
On August 24, 2014 President Karzai met with the outgoing commander of the NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford to essentially say “good bye.”
Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. (born December 8, 1955) is a four-star general in the United States Marine Corps and current commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A).[2] Prior to that, he served as the 32nd Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.
General Dunford has commanded several units, and is noted for leading the 5th Marine Regiment during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Dunford has been nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by US Senate to become the 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Source: Dunford confirmed as 36th commandant of the Marine Corpshttp://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140724/NEWS/307240065/
In the meeting where the US ambassador to Afghanistan and a number of Afghan security officials and high ranking military officers were also present, President Karzai “thanked Gen. Dunford for maintaining a good working relationship with the Afghan officials.”
Speaking on the bilateral security agreement (BSA), President Karzai “reiterated his longstanding position and said, “I have my conditions for signing the security agreement with the US and NATO in Afghanistan. I shared them in the Loya Jirgah and the most important of which is ensuring peace in Afghanistan.”
The President further added that, “It is important that the election process comes to a conclusion within the agreed timeline and to provide for the new President to take oath of office and who can then represent Afghanistan in the upcoming NATO Summit.”
The President stressed that now that the foreigners are involved in the elections, they must make every effort possible to make the elections result known by the time period previously agreed.”
Source: http://president.gov.af/en/news/35784
Note: Marine General Joseph Dunford arrived in Afghanistan and assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and United States Forces – Afghanistan on 10 February 2013. To date he made no real contribution to winning the war or defeating the Taliban. He leaves having accomplished nothing really. He even was unable to secure the signing of a new bilateral security agreement.
During Dunford’s tenure as ISAF commander the Taliban have scored f=significant gains in several strategic areas near the capital this summer, inflicting heavy casualties and casting new doubt on the ability of Afghan forces to contain the insurgency as the United States moves to complete its withdrawal of combat troops, according to Afghan officials and local elders.
Their advance has gone unreported because most American forces have left the field and officials in Kabul have largely refused to talk about it. The Afghan ministries have not released casualty statistics since an alarming rise in army and police deaths last year.
Simply put General Dunford has failed to heed Sun Tzu’s key principles in “the Art of War” – because of that he failed to win in Afghanistan and lost to an insurgency.
See also video: Sun Tzu documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erZ2YidTZp4
Dunford failed to achieve one of his key goals for winning in Afghanistan:
*Ensure al-Qaida and other extremists groups could no longer use Afghanistan as a safe haven.
Source: Gen. Dunford’s three goals for winning in Afghanistan http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140609/NEWS08/306090024/Gen-Dunford-s-three-goals-winning-Afghanistan
On this count he failed miserably!
Making matters worse the Taliban is stronger than ever! Al-Qaeda still enjoys its safe haven in Pakistan and the American’s are on their way out. By any definition that is a miserable failure!
See related article: Taliban Making Military Gains in Afghanistan http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/world/asia/taliban-making-military-gains-in-afghanistan.html?_r=0
See article: TALIBAN GAINS IN AFGHANISTAN GO LARGELY UNREPORTED http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/28/Taliban-Gains-In-Afghanistan-Go-Largely-Unreported
See article: Taliban ‘gaining ground’ as Afghan audit drags on http://www.dw.de/taliban-gaining-ground-as-afghan-audit-drags-on/a-17820792
See article: Top US Military Officer: Taliban gains upper hand http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-11-18-601483931_x.htm
See article: Taliban making gains as Marine presence tails off http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/03/taliban-gains/1675141/
See article: Taliban Now Winning U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Warns of Rising Casualties http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124986154654218153