Having the Taliban retake the country was inevitable. The US went in there stating flat out that they were not going to stay in the country forever. The Talib

Having the Taliban retake the country was inevitable. The US went in there stating flat out that they were not going to stay in the country forever. The Taliban hears this and goes "Oh really? Because we are." So now all Afghans have to ask themselves. Am I going to back the people who are going to leave in a few years? Even if you hate the Taliban (and a lot of people do), they'll kill you if you oppose them and your allies aren't going to be around to help. The grand American plan of uniting a bunch of tribes that have been at war with each other of centuries was never going to work either, even if you could find some magical unicorn of a local leader that wasn't hopelessly corrupt.