{"id":13563,"date":"2019-12-09T15:06:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T15:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/09\/afghanistan-war-metrics-were-manipulated-to-highlight-battlefield-success-according-to-bombshell-wapo-report\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:30:18","slug":"afghanistan-war-metrics-were-manipulated-to-highlight-battlefield-success-according-to-bombshell-wapo-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/12\/09\/afghanistan-war-metrics-were-manipulated-to-highlight-battlefield-success-according-to-bombshell-wapo-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan war metrics were manipulated to highlight battlefield success, according to bombshell WaPo report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">America\u2019s longest war continues to drag on as U.S. forces are amid one of its heaviest bombing campaigns since the start of the conflict 18 years ago as Washington seeks to force the Taliban into a settled peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in the backdrop, war metrics that have been used to push positive public sentiment and stay the course in a war U.S. officials have acknowledged as unwinnable were manipulated to tout successes and emphasize particular strategies were moving in the right direction, according to a an explosive story from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/2019\/investigations\/afghanistan-papers\/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents\/\" target=_blank>Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In documents obtained through a government records request by the Washington Post, a senior National Security Council official said the Obama administration and Pentagon pushed metrics that portrayed the 2009 decision to surge 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in an inaccurately positive light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was impossible to create good metrics. We tried using troop numbers trained, violence levels, control of territory and none of it painted an accurate picture,\u201d the NSC official said in a 2016 government interview, according to the Washington Post\u2019s government documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe metrics were always manipulated for the duration of the war,&#8221; the NSC official said, the Washington Post reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Washington Post obtained nearly 2,000 pages of interviews and comments made by government officials, diplomats and military commanders regarding the state of the Afghan war.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/12\/04\/isis-is-taking-a-beating-in-afghanistan-setting-the-stage-for-us-troop-withdrawal\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4175598.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">ISIS is taking a beating in Afghanistan setting the stage for potential US troop withdrawal<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">ISIS is down to a few hundred fighters in Afghanistan following sustained operations by U.S. and Afghan forces and even Taliban fighters.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The comments by U.S. officials were made as part of a project led by John Sopko known as \u201cLesson Learned\u201d about the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sopko is the lead inspector general for a government watchdog group known as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which produces reports on reconstruction aid and the conflict in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sopko told the Washington Post that the documents it obtained showed \u201cthe American people have constantly been lied to\u201d about the state and progress of the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NSC official in the 2016 government interview said U.S. officials would even find ways to stretch bad metrics in a positive light, according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was their explanations,\u201d the NSC official said, according to the Washington Post \u201cFor example, attacks are getting worse? \u2018That\u2019s because there are more targets for them to fire at, so more attacks are a false indicator of instability.\u2019 Then, three months later, attacks are still getting worse? \u2018It\u2019s because the Taliban are getting desperate, so it\u2019s actually an indicator that we\u2019re winning.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd this went on and on for two reasons,\u201d the NSC official said, according to the Washington Post. \u201cto make everyone involved look good, and to make it look like the troops and resources were having the kind of effect where removing them would cause the country to deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Garofano, who advised Marines in Helmand in 2011, said during a 2015 government interview that a lot of effort was put into producing color-coded charts that showed the war was moving in the right direction, and no one questioned the credibility of the information or whether it was helpful, according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey had a really expensive machine that would print the really large pieces of paper like in a print shop,\u201d Garofano said in the 2015 interview, according the Washington Post. \u201cThere would be a caveat that these are not actually scientific figures, or this is not a scientific process behind this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2018, U.S. officials began publicizing Taliban and Islamic State fighter body counts to shore up support in the White House to remain in the conflict, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/20\/us\/politics\/military-body-count-afghanistan.html\" target=_blank>New York Times.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Body count metrics were widely used during the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon stopped pushing the body count figures following questions from the New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are currently 13,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. President Donald Trump has oft voiced his desire to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a surprise visit to Bagram Air Base, Trump told U.S. troops that negotiations with the Taliban were back on, after he suspended them in September following a deadly bombing claimed by the Taliban that claimed the life of a U.S. soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/08\/the-us-has-ramped-up-its-air-campaign-in-afghanistan-to-highest-level-in-nine-years\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635709180120537365-f15e-110626jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The US has ramped up its air campaign in Afghanistan to highest level in nine years<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. dropped more munitions in Afghanistan in September than any other month since October 2010 when America had nearly 100,000 troops on the ground.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump also touted success of recent operations against the ISIS militants in Afghanistan during the Thanksgiving Day visit, detailing that U.S. forces were \u201cwiping\u201d out ISIS militants \u201cleft and right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s almost nothing left in this area. And al-Qaida, the same thing. And tremendous progress,\u201d Trump told U.S. troops during the visit. \u201cAnd we \u2014 we\u2019ve got them down to very low numbers. We\u2019ll have that totally taken care of in a very short period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">National security experts and critics of a U.S. draw down if Afghanistan oft warn of the plethora of terror groups operating in Afghanistan as a reason to maintain as U.S. presence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fears of an ISIS resurgence in Afghanistan has become a major hurdle for U.S. troops seeking to withdraw from the region after nearly 18 years of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/12\/08\/us-peace-envoy-to-afghanistan-opens-first-round-of-resurrected-talks-with-taliban\/\" target=_blank>Associated Press<\/a> reported that Trump\u2019s envoy leading peace negotiations with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, kicked off the first round of talks with the Taliban on Saturday since Trump\u2019s paused the negotiations in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sopko told the Washington Post that the documents it obtained showed \u201cthe American people have constantly been lied to\u201d about the state and progress of the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":30071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["flashpoints","news","left-column","home","pentagon-congress","middle-column"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"4":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","home","pentagon-congress","news","left-column"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"6":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column","home","pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"7":{"categories":["flashpoints","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column","home","pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"}}},"categories":[100,8,23,92,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3351],"class_list":["post-13563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ARBEHZQ3QVCH3K3IKMP55GFSCQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2019\/12\/09\/afghanistan-war-metrics-were-manipulated-to-highlight-battlefield-success-according-to-bombshell-wapo-report\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Afghanistan war metrics were manipulated to highlight battlefield success, according to bombshell WaPo report - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sopko told the Washington Post that the documents it obtained showed \u201cthe American people have constantly been lied to\u201d about the state and progress of the conflict.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Afghanistan war metrics were manipulated to highlight battlefield success, according to bombshell WaPo report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sopko told the Washington Post that the 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