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Pentagon Defends Track Record in Afghanistan

Jeff Seldin

   PENTAGON - The Pentagon is rejecting accusations that military
   leadership "incentivized lying" to portray a more optimistic picture of
   U.S. efforts in the nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan.

   "The idea that there was some ... effort to hide the truth or the
   reality on the ground just doesn't hold water," chief Pentagon
   spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters Thursday.

   "This idea that there were somehow misstatements or lies, I don't think
   that really gels," he added.

   Hoffman's response took aim at comments by U.S. Special Inspector
   General for Afghanistan ReconstructionJohn Sopko, who testified
   Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

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