Drawdown of US embassy in Afghanistan foreshadowing a bleak future.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/10/politics/embassy-kabul-drawdown/index.html

After 20 years, >2300 US fatalities, 35-40000 civilian deaths, and $824 billion, the murderous Taliban are going to rule Afghanistan, just as they were before we invaded.

The US has a bad habit of doing this. You can blame Democrats--Kennedy for getting us into Vietnam, Obama for Iraqi force drawdowns that allowed ISIS' rise, Biden for pulling out of Afghanistan. Or you can blame Republicans--Nixon for pulling out of Vietnam (resulting in a bloodbath in SE Asia), Bush 41 for invading Iraq and then withdrawing without removing Hussein, Bush 43 for invading Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump for abandoning our Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS.

And recall that Obama promised to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan within 16 months of taking office, and Trump said remaining troops would be home by Christmas 2020, so Biden just fulfilled his predecessors' promises, rightly or wrongly.

I don't have easy answers, but I'm saddened to see the Afghan people fall under the rule of these misogynistic barbarians again.