Guggenheim described the terrible hand that had been dealt to Ghani, who took office amid the withdrawal of nearly all foreign troops.
The prime minister's office said the withdrawal would be phased over time, and even when it was complete, troops and tanks would still ring the city, which is the commercial and political center of the West Bank and home to about 200,000 people.
Democrats had generally considered Afghanistan to be the "good war," as opposed to Iraq, but, once Obama was in office and the withdrawal from Iraq had begun, congressional leaders such as David Obey, of Wisconsin, announced that they would give the Administration twelve months to show progress in Afghanistan.
But this summer, when we met at his London office, he spoke of withdrawal as a prelude to catastrophe.
In the month after Lincoln took office, Confederate leaders demanded withdrawal of the federal garrison from Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
In the polls the "disapproval" rate is a bit lower and a few less people favored his voluntary withdrawal from office.
Once in office, he adjusted the withdrawal schedule, keeping American brigades in place longer but making their primary mission to advise Iraqi forces.
In Mr. Woodward's book, it was in reply to Mr. Graham, expressing concern at a private Oval Office meeting last year about withdrawal from Afghanistan, that the president remarked, "I can't lose the whole Democratic Party".
Even its ATMs keep bankers' hours, providing free cash withdrawals during office hours but charging at other times.
