The US-led mission in Afghanistan is coming to an end this year, with allied forces withdrawing from the country's fractious Helmand Province earlier this week.
With coalition troops leaving Afghanistan to meet their withdrawal deadline this calendar year, there's no better time to watch Ben Anderson's 2013 documentary: "This Is What Winning Looks Like".
The British producer spent six years in the country, capturing a damning picture of both the Afghan National Army and the US-led coalition's efforts to train it.
Rampant corruption, illiteracy, technical incompetence, and a Taliban threat indistinguishable from provincial civilians are only a few of the problems stacked against the prospect of the Afghan state's meeting success by western standards. It's a reminder of the uncertainty that lies ahead for the country, and the failure of the US to fulfill many of its major goals.
The documentary takes its title from the words of American General John Allen in February 2013, on his last day as head of NATO forces in Afghanistan. Allen's words were meant to inspire. The documentary adopts them with dark irony.
At a patrol base, US soldiers discover that Afghan troops have been detaining four men in a makeshift prison of stacked sandbags. An interpreter translates their version of the facts ...
... but confronted about the illegal detention, an Afghan soldier puts his foot down, and the Americans see little choice but to back off in response. A US soldier later tells one of his comrades: "Just wait, I don't want to piss them off. It's their show." The whole episode is just one example of a lack of communication and differing standards between the Afghan and US militaries.
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