You want to make it simple but as Rumsfeld stated:
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.[/QUOTE]

I did not suggest he gave a time line of any sort.

I am saying he is derilict in his duty to meet his commitment. To either do what he said he was going to do or state why it could not be done. Or that the job is tougher than expected. Or that we have been bomboing the crap out of them and it is not working, so here is what we will do next.

Most of us expect a promise to be delivered upon.
Most of us 18 months later would be just a little curious about when was something going to happen.
Most of us would not make such a commitment without some plan to make it happen. And it is not unreasonable to expect the person in charge to make happen what they commited.

No one would let such a commitment sit for 18 months with no communication of status. And I would be suspect of anyone who would.