I am not trying to argue either side of why, why not, or how our leaders could have mounted a WWII style objective, vis-a-vis Afghanistan. My only argument is that that is what it would have taken to not be in the position we are in today - neither failing outright or succeeding outright.
Look, I agree with the rest of your original post. I’m just saying that if it stopped with the Taliban, it wouldn’t have been enough.