I've never made Biden the "singular scapegoat", for the record. I think the Afghanistan 20-year chapter is way too complicated for that. In order to truly and objectively assess every phase of the Afghanistan chapter, from beginning to inglorious end... you'd have to include the "why" the U.S. went in there in the first place. This of course, is a touchy, sensitive topic to discuss... if only because of the many American lives that were lost there and all the sacrifices made by American families throughout the years. But discussed it should... because hopefully it'll provide lessons for the future.

I would've thought that the U.S. would've learned from the futility of the prior Soviet invasion/occupation attempts on Afghanistan. Even the unpopular and not very successful war in Vietnam. But I guess not. The reasons for invading a country can always be subjected to very good second-guessing. I understand after 9/11 there was a wave of emotion and patriotism that made even George W. Bush look like a genius (he was anything but). So invading Afghanistan in the hopes of... of... of... (I honestly don't know what they were hoping for) probably didn't meet with too much public opinion resistance. But as we all know... days turned into weeks, which turned into months, which turned into years. And if we must judge the effectiveness of the gargantuan efforts put forth and sacrifices made... and we use the same standard afforded to endeavors in industry or any other aspect in life, where it's the end result that matters... the whole thing was an abject failure. The Taliban just had to wait it out... and now they have the run of the country again. Maybe... just maybe... another approach would've been to devote all that time and effort to strengthening other aspects of our national security, such as intelligence (domestic and abroad), anti-terrorism strategies, etc. But again... all of this is second-guessing.

Biden was given the short end of the stick and was bound to get the criticism he's received. But we all realize the Afghanistan chapter had to end some time... and someone was going to pick the short straw.

I think it's time for some honest-to-goodness, introspective, intelligent discussions on exactly WHAT the role of the U.S. should be in this new age, regarding foreign policy. I think it's time to reexamine the old view of the U.S. as "The World's Policeman", from a practical point of view, as well as moral, and global perspectives.