An excerpt from Richard Boucher's testimony:
Many of us involved in Afghanistan think it's time to examine more critically how we intervene and how to help others build stable government. Unfortunately, we made fundamental mistakes in our policies there. Senators Rand Paul and Maggie Hassan held a subcommittee hearing to discuss the issues with several of us who have worked extensively on Afghanistan over the years...I pointed to failures in how we deliver assistance, trying to build central bureaucracy rather than local government and spending too much on overhead and accountants before the money ever gets to Afghanistan. I also wanted to convey other lessons to the Senators that are more global: the "war on terror" will only be won by helping capable governments deliver benefits to their people. We need more diplomacy, not more interventions. And, America needs to fund diplomacy to lead.
WATCH THE TESTIMONY (Boucher Begins at 1:52:00)