Alexander, well written if not a little bleak. These things are diificult.

Biden simply followed the Trump /Pompeo surrender made at Doha. That is why Afghans didn't fight. Biden conducted U.S. foreign policy under the direction of popular opinion and in the process tossed the small but significant achievements we had actually made. Athough the costs were enormous, many Afghans (particularly women) had better lives than 20 years ago. Biden's timing of our cut and run was arbitrary and as you say we came away with nothing -- probably very much less than.

Whether Aghanistan will affect Biden going forward -- most likely not. Americans will forget this pretty soon.

All four America Presidents are to blame for the failures. The big one to my mind was shear indifference.