RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Looking Back at Afghanistan, The ‘War of Necessity.’. “The campaign in Afghanistan began in 2002 with a specific purpose. But by the time Barack Obama was running for President its chief attraction was the fact that it was an alternative to the campaign in Iraq. A 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal covering his speech before the VWF captured his thinking: Afghanistan was a ‘war of necessity,’ unlike Iraq, which was a ‘war of choice.’ Of all the ‘false choices’ the President was fond of rhetorically raising, this was perhaps the falsest choice of all. By asserting that Afghanistan, not oil or the Middle East or radical Islam was the center of gravity of the enemy, President Obama completely misframed the strategic choices.”

Plus: “If the War on Terror seems largely won today, or at least less desperate than September, 2001 it is because radical Islam has discredited itself, the strongmen of the Middle East have self-immolated themselves through their own dysfunction and entrepreneurs have eased American dependence on foreign oil through fracking and other innovations.”