> Does anyone in America actually care about what style of government Afghanistan adopts? As just an ordinary American citizen, I think that question is nearly

> Does anyone in America actually care about what style of government Afghanistan adopts? As just an ordinary American citizen, I think that question is nearly 20 years too late (or 32 if we consider Charlie Wilson’s War). And that particular question is downstream of other more important questions. My primary calculation is: what is the likelihood that a central Afghan government could actually influence the governing of regions far from the major cities, what is the likelihood that American soldiers could support the central government in establishing order/governance there, how much progress have we made in 20 years, how much longer would it take to make such a project self-sustaining without further US support, would the central government be considered authentic by those whom it governs or just a Vichy, and how do American citizens know the progress we are making is real or just optimistic spin by professional generals whose reputation is tied to this engagement. Honestly I’ve been pretty pessimistic about Afghanistan since Bush 2 took his eye off the ball in 2003 and moved his efforts to Iraq, which was at least a stable governing organization (although I freely admit I would never want to live there). We elected Obama and Trump since, both of whom tried to pull the US out of these Middle East wars and mostly did (until things changed). If America had any real chance to help Afghanistan, it was in 1989 right after the Soviets left and we left the weak remaining government to deal with the well trained mujaheddin with no significant American support.