We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan - we didn't know what we were doing. What are we doing here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking. Another interviewee, Col. Bob Crowley, stated, Every data point was altered to present the best picture possible. Surveys, for instance, were totally unreliable but reinforced that everything we were doing was right and we became a self-licking ice cream cone.