Maybe routing the Taliban is too much of an expectation. Maybe it isn't necessary. Maybe the goal of defeating them is where we went wrong with, to begin with.
Instead, just let them spend their time in the hills. Let them root themselves deep in the rocks. If they want to take their water from the rocks, let them.
And, while they live in the crevices of the mountains, be down in the towns and cities, just protecting the people. Peace-keeping forces, is all.
I do not know but what that is all we have tried to do, or much of what we have tried to do. Maybe we haven't been much more than a peacekeeping force. Maybe we haven't tried to root them out of the hills. I only know President Biden has called this the "Forever War." If you are trying to root them out of their hiding places, yes, that might take forever -- and you might forever fail.
But, if you just stay in the cities, protecting them, you need not fail. You might need to stay there "forever," admittedly. Peace isn't a war you win, and then you move along. It's an effort that must endure. "Eternal" is the greater half of the expression, "eternal vigilance."
Let's return to Afghanistan. If we abandon the war, that's fine. But, let's not abandon the peace.
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