The Metrics Are Coming, the Metrics Are Coming!

...er, sort of. At least we have some idea what they are going to be. And hopefully we'll have them ready to report to Congress by the September 24th deadline. Of course the White House is doing a "test run" (to make sure the numbers aren't too bad?) before releasing the list. If the Washington Post has seen the full list they are either choosing to dole information out a little at a time, or the metrics are nothing new, "including newly trained Afghan army recruits, Pakistani counterinsurgency missions and on-time delivery of promised U.S. resource." I'll provide analysis once more information comes out.

Meanwhile, General McChrystal is apparently delivering his review to the Pentagon and NATO as I write. We shall see what it actually says, and if it is more useful than the previous five reviews. We know it doesn't contain a direct request for more troops. And the metrics are separate. So what does it have? A strategic rationale? A desired end-state? A strategy for achieving it? As Joshua Foust has repeatedly pointed out, most of McChrystal's initiatives were simply extensions of McKiernan's ideas executed better due to increased political support. This is McChrystal's chance to really suggest a new path and show that the change in leadership was justified.