Many reasons for this Olivesh. And you have pointed out many.

The most recent reason was Joe Biden. Not only because he followed the opinion of a largely uninformed American public, but because of thickheadedness and worst -- almost complete indifference. I'm refering not to the messy exit but that we should have maintained (with our important allies) a presense in Afghanistan (admittedly it was made more difficult because of the Trump / Pompeo surrender to the Taliban in Doha, but Biden could have reversed that).

America was no longer at WAR in Afghanistan. We had managed our presence to almost no American casualties and an economic cost that we could afford (as this has to weighed against the unknown situation now).

Although our 20 years cost us plenty, there were small but significant achievements that we made. Many Afghans were enjoying a semblance of normal life -- particularly women. Those gems have now been tossed into the dust. These strides of women could have been built upon and used not only in other Arab and moslem countries, but in India, many parts of Africa and around the world where gross inequality of the sexes exist. The place of women is key, not only to prosperity, but also to security -- including our own.

Unfortunately we squandered this opportunity. And for what? As you point out we got nothing except 13 dead soldiers (plus more than 100 Afghan civilians also dead), a further tarnished U.S. reputation and who knows what else following.

We returned to our cave (OK America is a big one) and the Taliban (and others) came out of theirs.

Many thanks. I see you have put work into your article.