Wayne, I had a nicely formatted response typed out but I lost it. I'll just touch on key points.
Shall we continue harping that both dominant parties get along, electing only them all the while, only to dismiss unconventional candidates when they come along because they differ from those about which one side or the other is complaining? Transitioning to this, as you point out, will not be easy but then, that's no reason to dismiss either.
Are we going to get a meaningful amount more out of what we did in Afghanistan than had we either done nothing or much, much less?
Was the goal in Afghanistan the right goal? In due time, I may reflect more positively on our "investment" there. I'm not getting my hopes up though.
