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: ” ‘We cannot succeed simply by trying harder… The entire culture–how ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] understands the environment and defined the fight, how it interacts with the Afghan people and government, and how it operates both on the ground and within the coalition–must change profoundly.’ ”
– Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, Page 177