There is no way to win in Afghanistan. It’s historically the graveyard of empires. The Soviet empire was ended there, the British empire was ended there... even way back to the days of Alexander the Great who swept through known lands like a scythe, his empire died there as well. And the American Empire is dying there as we speak. 15 years in and basically nothing has changed.
Somehow we let Bin Laden escape into Pakistan. We should have followed him and killed him than. I agree about Afghanistan except for the Brits. They had empire till after world war !!. But Afghan is just rcks and mountains. We should have done what we went to do and got out.
Afghanistan is a problem because of Pakistan. If they actually sealed the border, didn’t aid, arm, and harbor them, then the Taliban would have withered away by now.
The Pakis need to be afraid of us more than they are of wanting influence in Afghanistan.