Yes, get us the hell out of Afghanistan ... we should have never been there in the first place, unless we wanted to carpet bomb this hell hole. We were never completely committed.
The mission was to kill Taliban. We killed some and drove many of them to Pakistan. Then we engaged in nation building and hearts and minds crap. We learned nothing from Vietnam. We should have followed the Taliban into Pakistan and killed more of them. Then we should have left to return as needed.
We should have gotten rid of Saddam and bombed the revolutionary guard and nuclear facilities in Iran with a clear warning that we would return as needed. When the UN pitched a fit we should have shown them the door and withdrawn our support.
We had the juice to do this after 9/11. We would have suffered far less casualties and the islamists would have gotten the message along with those who finance them.
Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose and I am probably more harsh than most Americans, but I remember how we felt then. I agree that we need to get out if we won’t take the war to those who wage war upon us. Our rules of engagement are ridiculous and we are losing soldiers who are trying to build schools and other infrastructure that will be used by the Taliban when they resume power after we leave. Good luck Karzai. You will need it.
Exactly. Turning Afghanistan into a “modern democracy” (whatever that means) was always a fool’s errand. And we have paid a heavy price for our foolishness.