Scheuer is a clintonoid pimple. But in the long run he's probably right.
We can stay in there as long as it suits us, which presumably means until we stabilize the situation in Syria and Iran and get our house in order on the energy problem. Which, unfortunately, we haven't even begun working on.
After we pull out, presumably Afghanistan will revert to what it has been for the past several thousand years. Neither the Russians nor the British were able to fix it, and we won't be able to, either. We can only stabilize it as long as we have the political will to stay there. But we may see that end in 2008, and we are likely to lose allies as time goes on.
Russia and China now want us out of there, and that doesn't help, either.
Scheur's right and so are you. Remember Korea, the Yalu River and MacCarthur? Remember Vietnam and the anti-war paralysis that forced our pull-out? Remember the horrific blood bath that followed, about which the anti-war Left said or cared nothing? The U.S. hasn't had the political will to win a long poker game since WWII.
Unless we have the balls and the political determination to root out the mess along the Afghani border and into Pakistani areas protecting Al Quaeda and fomenting anti-Musharaf unrest, both the Kharzai and Musharaf governments will collapse. Remember: the Pakis have the "Islamic Bomb" and the will to use it.