I hope your impression matches the reality, to the extent possible.
My admittedly grossly imperfect impression of Afghanistan is that of a water baloon: push in here, bulge out there. Net result: Nada.
I'm not sure who has a clear picture of Afghanistan. I read about it daily, search for articles from a variety of sources and from day to day it's hard to figure out. Some days I lean towards pull all the troops out and let the whole region go to hell. Other days the idea of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tazjikistan, etc falling to nuclear powered islamic radicals keeps me awake at night.