The US does not like to lose. But they also do not know how to end wars (especially the ones they start). That's the story of the Vietnam war of the '60s and '70s. That's also the story of the Afghanistan war of the past 2 decades - which is now winding up by the rise again of the Taliban.

The Washington Post revealed in an expose almost 2 years ago that top officials of the United States from the last 3 Presidents (Bush II, Obama and Trump) all praised the war effort, exaggerated the results and even indicated that Suicide bombings are a last-ditch effort by the failing Taliban, all while not knowing the exact purposes of the war or specific success metrics.

Policy misdirection -

Fundamental disagreements went unresolved. Some U.S. officials wanted to use the war to turn Afghanistan into a democracy. Others wanted to transform Afghan culture and elevate women’s rights. Still others wanted to reshape the regional balance of power among Pakistan, India, Iran and Russia.

Military Confusion -

Was al-Qaeda the enemy, or the Taliban? Was Pakistan a friend or an adversary? What about the Islamic State and the bewildering array of foreign jihadists, let alone the warlords on the CIA’s payroll? According to the documents, the U.S. government never settled on an answer.

What the leaders said -

“The history of military conflict in Afghanistan [has] been one of initial success, followed by long years of floundering and ultimate failure. We’re not going to repeat that mistake.” — President George W. Bush, in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute in April 2002.

“The days of providing a blank check are over. . . . It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.” — President Barack Obama, in a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. in Dec 2009.

More here - https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

PS:
A comical look at the story.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEgbIUWWAJQ

Biden did the right thing in my opinion. Americans have lost too many soldiers to this never ending war. There is no use losing soldiers to the Taliban, Isis and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan because they want democracy established. Afghanistan is a country and should be able to fight for itself. Thousands of Americans have died already and enough is enough. They should go home and let Afghanistan run their country anyhow they want it. Their useless president ran out of the country with millions of dollars leaving citizens at the mercy of terrorists'. His departure led to the fall of the government because there was nobody to give orders. He dey Dubai dey watch tv and enjoy life now

Amajerry83:
Biden did the right thing in my opinion. Americans have lost too many soldiers to this never ending war.

The US should have left since 2002 after decapitating the Taliban. But pride of folks like VP Cheney and SecDef Rumsfeld (and some guilt from too many quarters) won't let them + the US media can be very confused.

Obama couldn't leave even after killing Osama bin Laden in 2011. That was another good time to leave but politics and the military-industrial complex got in the way, plus he will lose way too much political capital at the time. I don't there will likely be much difference between then and now.

Of course, Trump continued the process and tried to end it and Biden inherited all that.

And since Biden has been involved all through the period from 2001 as a top-ranking Senator (even Chairing the powerful Senate Foreign Affairs C'ttee at some point), then VP for 8 years, he knew the best move was not to continue staying in the country longer. I'll also say that these Afghanistan papers that got into the media would have played into Biden's decision to wind this up quickly (so that all this won't be worse for the Dems in the 2022 mid-term election).