A very slow and patient process, but an active process nonetheless. Taliban is winning this war anyway. Trillions wasted in resources on desolate regions with hardly anything to show for is embarrassing for a so called Super Power. Taliban sure as hell is not going away, so nothing to show for except a huge, extravagant, bloody transfer of wealth.
They're not. These wars take a while. India has been fighting in Kashmir for 24 years and lost 7000 troops/paramilitary cops killed. As long as there's funding, the Kashmiri insurgents will keep on fighting. The Philippines and Thailand have been fighting Muslim insurgencies off and on for 100 years. These things die with a whimper. I think we should depart Afghanistan but keep funding the government. Staying in Afghanistan means spending $100b a year. Subsidizing the Afghan government is only a few billion, enough to offset the money the Pakistanis are sending to the Taliban. I think of propping up Afghanistan as a cheap way of killing Muslim extremists, pitting our money against money from al Qaeda- and Taliban-sponsoring donors around the world.