Systemic Failure To Prosecute A War

The Taliban is resuming control of Afghanistan.

There's no surprise there.

We never did do anything to kill them off, because that would have meant attacking Pakistan too.  It might have meant attacking Iran as well.

We're not good at persecuting the enemy wherever they hide.

We let them have safe harbor across a handy border.

So they always win because they can wait us out.

On September 12th we could have gotten a declaration of war from Congress and the world would have stood back from our righteous fury as we scoured the Earth for these pricks.

Lots of places had an "Oh fuck!" moment every bit as frightening as August 6, 1945 was to Japan when our military was slipped from its leash for a change.

But then it ran long enough for the idiots to come in and start nation building from places which weren't completely defeated and demoralized; just beaten around a bit.

Asking Iraqis and Afghans what they wanted in their new government instead of dictating how things would be run from now on was a mortal mistake.

Trusting America and our promises is also a mistake you only get to make once.

We'll be paying for that shit for generations.