What is the true objective for our military in Afghanistan?

In my opinion the American military is there for three reasons.

First, we have put ourselves in a position of a type of world police and thrive on that attention. If we do not continue this legacy we have started (similar to how the French came to our aid when we declared our independence from those tea drinkers) we will lose the image we have been creating for the past 200 years.

Second, the American public thrives on hearing about other peoples issues. That is why the news is so negative all the time; and nothing says 'we are so much better than you' than our military in a third world country looking for potential terrorists spreading American influence across the globe. (hence why no one likes us)

And third, (and in my opinion the most important) we need our military to stay experienced. This is a touchy subject and can be a hundred post topics all on its own, but the world has been 'safe' for far too long in my opinion. That is why all this 'stuff' has been happening lately (don't get me wrong stuff is always happening). Our military has been fighting every battle we can find and we stay experienced for the sake of our future. I, for one, want our military (from generals to privates) to know what it is like to fight a war and not just rely on their knowledge of Saving Private Ryan. Nothing trumps OTJ experience... sucks to say but there is no denying it.

Oh, and long story short the reason there has not been a true war on American soil since WWII and there are no foreign bases within our borders, despite our presence in what feels like striking distance to anywhere from anywhere, is because we continue to put ourselves out there. Nations know we not only will, but we can easily defend ourselves without aid from others. We spend more on our defense than like the next ten super powers combined. Either we are sh*t hot or we are f*@king crazy... wither way no one wants to open that can of worms.