[PilotMan]

There are two things about this. First, the shock and dismay Americans are having because they feel like they win every time and should always win, and because this doesn't feel like winning, but they can't understand why. The why part should be the easiest thing to understand if you've even paid any passing interest in the region. It's been like this since Bush was in power and it was never going to change. So many Americans are clutching their pearls over this and pointing fingers instead of really trying to understand what was going on. It's not like the military didn't try, it's not like countless American leaders (not just presidents, but leaders at every level) tried to come up with a solution that would work, but the failure was the constant destabilization of the general populace by the outside forces of the Taliban and their supporters whether it was solely Pakistan or whether or not Russia or another foreign agent was involved.

Second, I think the best way to understand it is that unless you feel like the US should have stayed there forever, and turned the country into a puppet state that at some point the end had to come. The country then turned to the Taliban and gave it away. Literally, gave it away. So the country and it's populace gets exactly what it wants. It wants this, it has this, and don't cry for it, and don't cry for the corruption that lead to it, and don't cry for the failures of the Afghan government. They have what they want. It is what it is, and life moves on.