I agree with that assessment too. There's been no real strategy over 29 years. The entire region is reminiscent of Yugoslavia. Forced to live together and get along by 'state' power without dealing with a very long history of enmity that goes bone deep.

The war dogs made a killing financially off our involvement.

The ones who wanted a pill out never supported any kind of strategy to make it happen successfully.

I wasn't that surprised at how quickly the Taliban took over. Not at all. As a feminist, I grieve for the women and children of Afghanistan. But frankly, I'm more worried about the rise of our own version of the Taliban.