U.S. Marines and U.K. troops close down last bases in Afghanistan. -Reuters

A Marine packs up and heads home. -Reuters. 

The last U.S. Marines and the last U.K. troops have officially ended their operations in Afghanistan.   -Reuters. The Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack were lowered for the last time as Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion transferred their command to the Afghan security forces. At one point 40,000 international troops were posted at Leatherneck and Bastion, but now it is almost completely empty. Helmand province was the site of several intense battles including one earlier this year. Some are concerned that the Afghan 215th corps will be able to hold the area. Afghan forces will have to stand on their own since by the begging of the new year only 12,500 foreign troops, mostly advisers.

My Comment:

We have been at war in Afghanistan for so long I can barely remember life before it. 13 years is a long time, and it is hard to believe that we have been fighting for that long. This isn't the end of the war in Afghanistan. As the article says their will still be troops there in an advisory role. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are still around and will be emboldened by the withdrawal. Afghanistan has known war for generations now and it has shown no sign of stopping anytime soon. My biggest concern is that something like the Iraq situation could develop. In that case we withdrew completely and ISIS came and now we are right back where we started with U.S. troops on the ground. I have very little confidence in the Afghan government and their military, even if we still have advisers and trainers. 

So did we win in Afghanistan? Well we went in their to dismantle Al-Qaeda and kill Osama Bin-Laden. Al-Qaeda still exists but it is a shadow of its former self. Bin-Laden is dead as well. In that way we have had a partial victory. But mission creep made our war in Afghanistan a defeat. We were not able to destroy the Taliban. We didn't stop the drug trade. And predictably we were unable to establish a successful corruption free government. Afghanistan was not a victory. It wasn't a total defeat either. But perhaps after 13 years it can be over. 

Was it worth it? Destroying radical Islam where ever it may be is a just cause and in the global war on Islamic Jihad we must fight where ever it rears its ugly head. I think it was justified. It was just the execution that was a problem. We might have never been able to accomplish all of our goals in Afghanistan, but it's clear to me that there were some very big mistakes made in the past decade. Bush should have finished the job in Afghanistan before going into Iraq. Obama should have fought the war like he cared about it. And the American people should have paid more attention to the conflict. As always hindsight is 20/20.