On May 1, 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald “Rumsfeld was in Kabul declaring victory in Afghanistan. ‘If one looks at Afghanistan and even Iraq today, it’s very clear that we are and have been in a stabilization operation mode for some time,’ said Rumsfeld. ‘We clearly have moved from major combat activity to a period of stability and stabilization and reconstruction activities. The bulk of the country today is permissive, it’s secure.’ ”
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 200