If ever there was a sober and truthful expression of how things are going in Afghanistan, it has to be what the Australia's former top commander in Afghanistan said today. On other words - in reality it's all a dud!
"Australia's former top commander in Afghanistan has described the war effort there as an "experiment" that will not end well.
Retired Major General John Cantwell has also criticised how politicians are portraying Australia's role and success in Afghanistan, describing the comments as "misleading".
It is not the first time Mr Cantwell has spoken out about the problems with the war in Afghanistan and has questioned whether it has been worth the lives lost.
His latest criticism of the war comes as Australia prepares to begin handing over control for local security in Uruzgan province to Afghan forces.
"I think it's a very noble and brave and courageous experiment, but I think it's also not going to end well," Mr Cantwell told ABC Radio National.
"Afghanistan is a deeply divided country in so many ways; it's riven by tribal enmities and hatreds, it's divided geographically, it's divided by economy, it's divided by politics, it is a mess and it's a mess which will be in the same terrible condition for decades to come.
"We are deluding ourselves if we think we're going to turn Afghanistan into some little democracy, some gleaming bastion of Westernised ideas in that part of the world.
"It's just not going to happen."
"Australia's former top commander in Afghanistan has described the war effort there as an "experiment" that will not end well.
Retired Major General John Cantwell has also criticised how politicians are portraying Australia's role and success in Afghanistan, describing the comments as "misleading".
It is not the first time Mr Cantwell has spoken out about the problems with the war in Afghanistan and has questioned whether it has been worth the lives lost.
His latest criticism of the war comes as Australia prepares to begin handing over control for local security in Uruzgan province to Afghan forces.
"I think it's a very noble and brave and courageous experiment, but I think it's also not going to end well," Mr Cantwell told ABC Radio National.
"Afghanistan is a deeply divided country in so many ways; it's riven by tribal enmities and hatreds, it's divided geographically, it's divided by economy, it's divided by politics, it is a mess and it's a mess which will be in the same terrible condition for decades to come.
"We are deluding ourselves if we think we're going to turn Afghanistan into some little democracy, some gleaming bastion of Westernised ideas in that part of the world.
"It's just not going to happen."
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