Not on much. Neither wants to destroy the Taliban — just tamp it down to the point where an as-yet nonexistent Afghan state can function. Which is why — prediction time — McChrystal won’t quit when Obama gives him fewer troops than McChrystal is asking for.

McChrystal’s assessment clearly states that what the general calls his “new strategy” — an intensification of “population protection” at the expense of “force protection” — is his top priority, not increased troop levels. But this is ignored in the debate, and certainly by most conservatives, who only emphasize the need to “give the general the forces he needs to win.” What it is that McChrystal actually wants to win — namely, the support of the Afghan people — is rarely mentioned.