Not a day of service... My family history is storied... Korea, World War II, World War I and the Civil War... So I do pay attention to history.
Interesting piece of history... America still has bases in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Iraq and most of the other places that they have invaded over the past century... Why leave Afghanistan when you can stay, have a base of operations and maintain order? Pakistan and Iran are on the border of this country... Two very dangerous countries that the USA and its allies may need to invade at some point in the future.
Afghanistan is now a bloody mess. Leaving it was not a very good policy strategically, politically or economically. The cost of re-invading both in terms of money and blood will be way more than the cost of staying put.
After I was released from Womack Hospital Ft. Bragg in mid 69 from two GSW’s, I was sent to the MI officer’s course. I did the area study for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq for my SF company. If you recall marines were on the ground for 100 days or so and did zip. Two sf teams jumped in and took the capital in 100 days or so. You cannot fight guerilla types with conventional units. You need those trained in UW who use a 100 G’s for two SF. Riding up and down roads is US Infantry BS not SF.