New details have emerged on the Obama administration’s internal divisions over the direction of the Afghan war. In a new book out next week, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward reports several top White House officials doubt Obama’s Afghan strategy will succeed. Obama’s top adviser on Afghanistan, Douglas Lute, and his special envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Hoolbrooke, are quoted in the book saying they don’t think the US strategy is tenable or matches Obama’s views. The doubts over Afghanistan have fueled personal attacks among White House officials. Vice President Joe Biden is quoted calling Holbrooke “the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met.” Despite expanding the war earlier this year with an additional 30,000 troops, Obama is described as having initially pressed his advisers to devise a strategy that could avoid a major escalation. Obama is quoted saying he believes he has “two years with the public” to turn around the Afghan war and reportedly asked officials to devise an “exit strategy” if he doesn’t. The book’s other revelations include the disclosure the CIA has been operating a 3,000-strong Afghan paramilitary force known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams that have carried out covert operations inside Pakistan. Woodward also reports Obama has maintained or expanded fourteen intelligence orders issued under President Bush that provide the legal grounds for covert CIA operations worldwide. And Woodward cites US intelligence reports that claim Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been diagnosed as manic depressive.