Or do politics, fiscal limits, and the sheer exhaustion of Western governments with Afghanistan's intractable problems mean, in effect, that the choice comes down to the success or failure of a plan set in place several years ago, one that is still on a kind of automatic pilot?
But success may come down to the same question as any other development project.
For Harden, the agency's success has come down to the creation of longstanding trust between his staff, Israel and Palestinian leaders and the people controlling the purse strings back in the US.
After all the planning, did the success of the game come down to the weather forecast?
I think the success of this company will come down to the response on the part of its target audience to the Flash UI.
As always, success this season will come down to the results of eight fixtures – the home and away games with the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal.
They need to be more switched on because, ultimately, their success or failure will come down to the application of their batsmen.
"Their success comes down to the atmosphere they create: a kind of melodic sadness.
Steam Machine's likely success comes down to the price of the consoles and the support of game makers.
The success of both comes down to the quality of the ingredients as much as how they're put together.
