> If it doesn’t work within 2-5 years, it’s not going to work. Cut your losses and run. That seems very arbitrary. I would say twenty years is not enough, bec

> If it doesn’t work within 2-5 years, it’s not going to work. Cut your losses and run. That seems very arbitrary. I would say twenty years is not enough, because a longer time period would mean that older, experienced Taliban fighters and organizers would be too old to continue their activities or just dead. It also isn't enough time if we haven't done a good job managing our efforts there, and we needed better leadership and accountability around our efforts to establish the new government and their military (more at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/how-america-failed-afghanistan/619740/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/how-americ...). I cannot understand why you think 2-5 years is the magic time to judge an effort like this by. Do you think that's true for everything in life? If a company can't IPO in 2 years they should just cut their losses and run? > Maybe there was some support for this in some areas of Kabul, but certainly not in the countryside. What's your evidence for this? Every poll I could find on Google suggests there is broad support for democracy in Afghanistan.