On August 29, 2009, Commander of U.S. and NATO Forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal delivered a confidential Initial Assessment on the situation in Afghanistan. It read: ” ‘Pre-occupied with the protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us–physically and psychologically–from the people we seek to protect.’ It baldly said that ‘we run the risk of strategic defeat’ because of operations that cause civilian casualties.”
– Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, Page 176