I'm not sure I like the sound of this

When you've just committed to a policy to escalate the manpower, diplomatic force, aid, and money to Afghanistan in a last ditch effort to salvage something out of an eight year neglected clusterfuck, what's the one thing you don't wan to hear about the intel capabilities of US agencies that are supposed to provide an understanding and framework to help you execute the diplomatic and counter-insurgent plans that the whole effort hinges upon? Is it this?

Flynn’s report — which was prepared for public release by the Center for a New American Security – begins with a stunning admission. “Eight years into the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. intelligence community is only marginally relevant to the overall strategy,” the report states. “Having focused the overwhelming majority of its collection efforts and analytical brainpower on insurgent groups, the vast intelligence apparatus is unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which U.S. and allied forces operate and the people they seek to persuade.”

I should mention that's the nice paragraph in the article, it actually gets a bit more scathing after that. But what would this Flynn character know anyway? I mean he's only the top intelligence aide to International Security Assistance Force Commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and a Major General in the US army.

Ah well, I'm sure we'll be able to win their hearts and minds even if we don't know what those hearts and minds want or even where on the Afghan body the heart or mind is located. What's understanding a populace got to do with getting them to do what we want forever? I'm sure this will all work out splendidly.