no fun allowed
911 had international consequences well beyond the initial invasion/occupation of Afghanistan.
Blair basically sold his soul to the American Neocons, effectively destroying Labor and casting it back into the wilderness of un-electability due to Blair being a huge fucking control freak who wanted SOME semblance of say in the invasions that followed, both to keep Britain in a major position in the post-911 status quo but also, if you feel charitable to Blair, to "keep Bush in check" as far as Blair basically thinking that SOMEONE had to keep friendly relationships with the Bush II administration and try and talk them down from doing some of the stuff they wanted to do now that they had an excuse in 911 to create Pax America worldwide.
The Iraq war that followed blew the middle east into a million pieces and then some, creating ISIS and creating a cascade effect that took down Libya and nearly destroyed Syria and radicalizing hundreds of thousands of Muslims worldwide towards terrorism and terrorist sympathizers. Removing Saddam in turn also further strengthened Iran and made them the true Muslim super power in the Middle East and has made Israel's hardliners even more powerful in the wake of Iran's ascension and the chaos and carnage around them.
It also fully broke the US military's back in two and turned a LOT of people against the US. Even with Obama's attempt to reset stuff, America is still reviled and mistrusted abroad. And it's impact on the global oil industry has made oil even more expensive and hard to find, since all of the pipe dreams of the Afghanistan and Iraq leading to more oil for everyone backfired HARD.
Finally, it created such a clusterfuck that Putin and his ilk were able to rebuild Russia back into a global super power while no one was looking. And create a situation where the US no longer has any sort of "moral high ground" against Putin, who can kill dissenters and make open plans to annex former Soviet territories and no one can do anything to stop him.
my point was more about the political capital you'd actually gain. as I mentioned remember W's "mission accomplished" speech? did anyone believe that? and that was 2003 when 9/11 was not a distant memory and the political and societal divide wasn't the size of the grand canyon. biden and the dems could have created the biggest spectacle doing their own "mission accomplished", but then again who would believe that? libtards hate the army that oppressed poor innocent muslims, most people you ask would say we should've left years ago asf, what's there to celebrate?
worse, even if there would've been any effect of "peace in the middle east" and "built a successful nation" - two weeks later all that would've been gone just like now. only difference being everyone of note would've already left so less of a shitshow, but doing their spectacle they also put a big ass spotlight on their "win", which becomes meaningless afterwards and would still be fresh enough in memory.
imo trumps original plan was a lot smarter - just leave without reminding anyone what a shitshow the last 20 years were, and no one cares afterwards when some goatherders want to kill themselves again, like the rest of the middle east. even if trump would've said "I did it", you'll more likely get a "took you long enough" than standing ovations.
imo afghanistan simply isn't a win no matter how you slice it, trying to pretend otherwise would only be worse.
You faggots literally had a deal that said "We'll leave at May 1st" you DUMB. FUCKING. GLORIFIED. TAILOR.
The fuck did you expect when not only reneging on the deal, but also not even inviting the Taliban into the table for a proper resolution?
Happy blowjobs from your Epstein Island hookers?
here's a fun little nugget lot of people miss: afghanistan is a shithole during winter, and being an agriculture country someone needs to sow the fields in spring so they don't starve. which means while the taliban sits in their caves because they don't really have the capacity to attack during winter, the usa and everyone else could collect everyone without a hurry, ship them out from bagram, then pack up and leave for good.
and then when may 1st comes up everyone's gone, and with the western presence removed no one really cares about afghanistan anymore when the taliban however slow or fast take over the country.