Here is part of an op-ed by Robert D. Kaplan in The New York Times:
No other country in the world symbolizes the decline of the American empire as much as Afghanistan. There is virtually no possibility of a military victory over the Taliban and little chance of leaving behind a self-sustaining democracy — facts that Washington’s policy community has mostly been unable to accept.
While many American troops stay behind steel-reinforced concrete walls to protect themselves from the very population they are supposed to help, it is striking how little discussion Afghanistan has generated in government and media circles in Washington. When it comes to Afghanistan, Washington has been a city hiding behind its own walls of shame and frustration.
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Afghanistan is like the huge and hugely expensive aircraft carriers we continue to build, increasingly obsolete in an era of sophisticated missile technology and hypersonic warfare. It is a vestigial limb of empire, and it is time to let it go.
You can read the rest @
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/01/opinion/afghanistan-war-american-troops-withdraw.html
I'd say it's more like a human appendix than a vestigial limb - seemingly of little value, but capable of flaring up and killing its host.
I agree - let it go. As they say, we have MUCH bigger fish to fry. Here is a discussion of some of them from the Saker:
http://www.unz.com/tsaker/from-2018-to-2019-a-quick-survey-of-a-few-trends/
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