Apparently, the most important change we could have & should have been focusing on we didn't make. That is, the desire & ability to defend themselves & take over their own country from the Taliban. That should have been our number one priority, and we failed miserably.
What kind of military training were we giving them for 20 years, that they cannot hold off a rag tag band of fighters for even 1 week? Or did we fail in instilling a "fighting spirit" into the Afghanis to want to defend their own country? Instead of nation building, we should have been building a fighting force.
They just became dependents.