PENTAGON BACKTRACK: It was just over five months ago that U.S. commanders were brimming with confidence about how President Trump’s new Afghanistan policy was a “game-changer” and would break the stalemate in Afghanistan. The top general in charge of the NATO-led mission, Gen. John Nicholson, even dared to say he agreed with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani that we had “turned the corner” and were “on a path to a win.”

There were no such feel-good bromides from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis yesterday as he was questioned about the latest indicators from the Pentagon’s Afghanistan watchdog showing Taliban and Islamic State influence expanding, while the Afghan security forces are shrinking, with 10 percent fewer personnel compared to a year ago. Asked by a pool reporter about the “consistent message” that the situation in Afghanistan is “turning around; that things are improving” in Afghanistan, Mattis insisted that’s not his view.