Is Afghanistan the Bush administration's biggest failure?

It seems a lot of Americans have forgotten about the “other war”, Afghanistan. Many people seem content to think the situation there is under control, and the war basically over. But I think the situation in Afghanistan represents the Bush administration’s greatest failure, not Iraq or anything else.

It is true that most Afghanis despise the Taliban for its brutal past, and the organization really has no hope of restoring itself to a position of power over the country. Still, NATO has failed to drive the Taliban out of the country, and it continues to bog down NATO troops and rally jihadists from around the world to its cause of fighting the West. The government in Kabul has no real legitimacy and relies heavily on foreign aid.

And then, there’s al-Qaeda. The key to Afghanistan has always been Pakistan. It was true in the 1980’s with the Soviet war, and it’s true now. What we’ve seen is that much of al-Qaeda’s base seems to have relocated to Pakistan’s tribal regions. This is a crippling blow to the US, because not only has al-Qaeda survived our seven-year war against them, but they have now threatened the legitimacy of a key US ally in the region (Pakistan) and caused a great deal of tension between us and them.

Do you think the war in Afghanistan represents a colossal failure for the Bush administration, or do you think it will ultimately turn out to be a successful, legitimate war? Why do you think the US and NATO failed, or succeeded, in Afghanistan?