President Obama had a prime opportunity to articulate his Afghanistan policy today when he held a press conference with Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper, but once again he did not mention the effort.

It’s too bad, because in the last 36 hours, his Administration has been all over the map on what the future holds in Afghanistan. This morning, the Wall Street Journal published an interview with the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, reporting that the commander believed “the Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan” and that US casualties will remain high for months to come (which isn’t really news to anybody following developments there, but nevertheless a sobering assessment considering the source).

This comes after Obama’s national security advisors struggled to explain, defend and predict the future of the war on yesterday’s Sunday Shows. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Obama’s National Security Advisor offered a different “endgame” than Obama’s goal of just defeating al Qaeda:

“The endgame in Afghanistan is obviously to turn the responsibility for their security and economic prosperity and the governance over to Afghans as quickly as possible.”

Jones also said that we would know by the “end of next year” whether or not we would succeed in Afghanistan, which is a more ambitious timeline than military commanders have offered.

(As an aside: Does anybody believe that if the Administration does turn down commanders’ requests for additional troops that Afghanistan will be stabilized by the “end of next year”? And where will that leave Obama, if chaos continues to reign there in 15 months?)

Similarly, Susan Rice’s comments on CNN downplayed the need for more troops and resources in the war, while repeating the President’s goal from March “to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and its extremist allies.”

Considering the confusing and contradictory statements coming from Obama’s military and civilian advisors over the need for more troops, the progress being achieved, and the likelihood of success in the next few years, one might think the Commander in Chief would want to offer some leadership. But instead, he let another opportunity pass.