In Defense of A Strategy of Not-Losing

"But when none of winning, not-losing, negotiating, staying, or leaving seem like good or viable options, it is time for strategists to move away from comfortable definitions and metaphors altogether. As Everett Dolman has written: “The first notion the military strategist must discard is victory, for strategy is not about winning.” To make the strategic aim of not-losing make sense, strategists should instead use Emile Simpson’s definition of strategy in War From the Ground Up: “Essentially strategy is the dialectical relationship, or the dialogue, between desire and possibility.” This mental shift makes the problem of what to do in Afghanistan and other messy places look different. In short, what the United States wants may not be possible at a price it is willing to pay. What the United States is willing to pay—in time, blood, treasure—depends, in part, on what it wants and how badly it wants it. "