Militarily, this has been at a state of strategic stalemate, if you will, where the Taliban cannot defeat militarily the regime, the government of Kabul, so long as the United States and its allies maintain some degree of military support; and the regime is not going to militarily defeat the Taliban or the -- the various other groups over there militarily so long as they have sanctuary in Pakistan, and that they have some small degree of popularity amongst the people, which is rated at about 10 to 15% or so in some of the rural areas.
Mind you, I'd like to see us figuring out how to help Afghan forces go on offense and win despite the problem of a Pakistan sanctuary for the Taliban. I thought we are at the beginning of that path at the end of the Obama administration, but I haven't seen that develop.
But I don't see Afghanistan as "endless war." At some point you have to say that our involvement has gone from waging war to supporting an allied government defending itself. In Afghanistan we are waging the Global Troubles.
But if we leave prematurely, it will break the stalemate in favor of our enemies and we will again need full war to prevent the territory of Afghanistan from being used as a sanctuary by jihadi enemies determined to kill us at home.
