The United States should have been in-and-out of Afghanistan in six months after the beginning of the assault.
* Smash the Taliban hosts of al-Qaida.
* Exterminate al-Qaida.
* Prevent al-Qaida survivors from crossing the Afghan-Pakistan border and slaughter them as they are found
* Withdraw completely, leaving them staggering-about in the smoking ruins
But, no... we stupidly tried to Nation-Build again amongst primitives with no concept of any form of government other than autocracy or theocracy.
Every American life lost beyond that six-month mark (or whenever it was once al-Qaida had been smashed and its survivors sent running for their lives) and every American life shattered by war-wounds and trauma and every American taxpayer dollar and every piece of American military equipment lost beyond that same short-term time mark was completely and entirely wasted to no good purpose. Both the Bush and Obama Administrations are jointly to blame for this.
If the Afghan people lack the courage or the motivation or the organizing skills or the competency to establish and maintain civilized rule then that's on them.
Hell... if the United States did anything... it was to give Afghans a taste of the outside world and how good it is out there and how $hittye their own country is.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step... you can't fix it if you don't know it's broken... one day the Afghans will eventually get this sorted out.
Besides... when was the last time that the Portugese did anything worth-a-damn?... other than enslaving and cross-breeding Brazilians for centuries, I mean...
