But do we need a "competent"??? and confident world statesman, who is prepared to over-promise on UK support, with a military he has emasculated in his term of office? He has pretentions to leading a world superpower, without the will to commit the resources to creating/sustaining one.
FV
The issue is how long it has taken the alliance to achieve air supremacy, when the enemy assets would appear to have been minimal from the outset. There can have been few conflicts recently where the strategy was so constrained by the need to cement and support a political alliance.
Perhaps the real reason for the procrastination in committing ground troops or full-on tactical assets like Apaches, is the overwhelming desire to avoid US casualties. Allied to uncertainty amongst our leaders about how much they want to progress the aims of the Northern Alliance.
But God speed all our forces in theatre.