Hi clo,
If only all soldiers on all sides deserted.
I know we live in a different, more tribal world. I know the hierarchies control young men and make warriors of them.
But the US isn't fighting AQ in Afghanistan. AQ long since reconstituted and relocated. AQ isn't Afghanistan.
The US is fighting the Taliban. The Taliban isn't so different from the Mujahideen. They aren't terrorists. They don't threaten the USA. They mostly just want the US out of their space. They are a bit crazy but crazy fundamentalist rather than crazy megalomaniac. Winkling anyone out of those mountains is impossible. The trick with Afghanistan is not to occupy it. It is to monitor it and occasionally to intervene temporarily when it gets too crazy. Let Afghans fight one another. It isn't our job to police them.
9/11 ain't the reason any more. I don't think anyone knows why the US is still there. Pointless.