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Afghanistan was nothing more than a live training exercise for the U.S. military. The war in Afghanistan gave the young officers live battle training, and prepared the next generation of U.S. Military leadership.

In order to "win" in Afghanistan it would have required slaughtering a substantial percentage of the population, which is not a particularly popular way to operate.

However, if the Taliban was actually a threat to the U.S. then the Taliban would have been eliminated, and eliminated quickly.