Since 2002, Afghanistan has made appearances in each of the presidential speeches to Congress, corresponding to nearly every year the U.S. has been at war in the country. And while the rhetoric shifts, the story remains in some ways consistent—America keeps aiming to defeat the Taliban and help rebuild the country as one that won’t harbor terrorists, and it keeps coming up short while declaring progress. Obama went so far as to declare three years ago that “our combat mission in Afghanistan is over.” His successor’s remarks on Tuesday show that that was not exactly true.

Here’s how the previous two presidents have described the state of Afghanistan before Congress:

2002

Bush’s remarks on January 29 came just months after the September 11 attacks and the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan. He said:

In four short months, our nation has comforted the victims, begun to rebuild New York and the Pentagon, rallied a great coalition, captured, arrested, and rid the world of thousands of terrorists, destroyed Afghanistan’s terrorist training camps, saved a people from starvation, and freed a country from brutal oppression. ... When I called our troops into action, I did so with complete confidence in their courage and skill. And tonight, thanks to them, we are winning the war on terror. ... Our military has put the terror training camps of Afghanistan out of business, yet camps still exist in at least a dozen countries.

At the end of the year, about 9,700 U.S. troops were in the country, fighting the Taliban.

2003

The following year, on January 28, Bush listed U.S. accomplishments in Afghanistan:

In Afghanistan, we helped to liberate an oppressed people. And we will continue helping them secure their country, rebuild their society, and educate all their children, boys and girls.

The number of U.S. troops in the country increased to 13,100 at the end of that year. But by then the Bush administration was more focused on the war in Iraq, which it invaded in March of 2003.

2004

On January 30, delivering the final State of the Union of his first term in office, Bush spoke of U.S. determination in the face of threats.

The first to see our determination were the Taliban, who made Afghanistan the primary training base of al-Qaeda killers. As of this month, that country has a new constitution guaranteeing free elections and full participation by women. Businesses are opening. Health care centers are being established, and the boys and girls of Afghanistan are back in school. With the help from the new Afghan army, our coalition is leading aggressive raids against the surviving members of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The men and women of Afghanistan are building a nation that is free and proud and fighting terror, and America is honored to be their friend.

Later that year, Afghans voted in presidential elections that put Hamid Karzai in office.