How predictable this whole thing was. The West has an unbroken multi-hundred year history of utterly failing in Afghanistan. If the original 2001 intent was to take out Bin Laden, I could have seen and supported sending in some hunter-killer teams willing to employ unbridled brutality to splatter his guts against some cave wall and getting out. And not telling anyone. Anything past that was some form of overambitious folly.
I’ve been saying for at least 5-6 years that we needed to have stopped at the punitive expedition phase in Afghanistan, said “don’t let people like that live amongst you again, or we’ll come back and really mess you up”, and gone home. And never started the so-called Nation Building / Meals on Wheels phase.
Ron Paul argued that we should use Letters of Marquis and Reprisal (which would have used special forces or mercenaries) and was laughed at here on FR.