...

The initiation for the pullout was started under Trump, and as he was so fond of bragging until the other day 'There is nothing that can be done to stop it'.

This is the legacy of MAGA.

SPC Jesse Davis - And to be fair, what did the prior to administrations do that was any better than the last, or the one we have now in regards to Afghanistan... this is not a Trump issue, a Biden issue, an Obama issue or a Bush issue ... this is decades of failed government by the Afghan people and poor foreign policies that have made to dramatic of shifts throughout administrations to be affective. To try and say this is any one administration problem doesn't seem fitting to me, just my opinion though.

SPC Jesse Davis - I think you may be wrong in that point, the talks to remove troops started with Obama, Trump just set a date, Biden inherited the pullout but was not given the plans, if any, by the previous administration. There is plenty of blame to lay with each one, but final execution was very poorly run.

MSgt Dale Johnson -
The situation on the ground 15 years ago wasn't the same as it is now, though. It would have hurt, but unlikely to have been the unmitigated disaster it is now.

1. George H.W. Bush was not part of the Global War on Terrorism. He ordered Desert Storm, which was an operation to remove Saddam's Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
2. As indicated above, President Clinton had nothing to do with Desert Storm, he continued the efforts of Operations Southern and Northern Watch and ordered Desert Fox in 1998. Southern/Northern Watch came to an end in 2003 when President Bush ordered OIF as part of the larger Global War on Terrorism, started in 2001 through OEF after 9/11. This war was necessary and we had every right to remove the Taliban from power after they refused to allow us to go after Al Qaeda in their country.
3. Yes, the government and military leadership of Afghanistan, specifically the older generations, were full of corruption and weak leadership when it came to building a self sustaining and peaceful nation. I experienced this personally. This is why our influence on the younger generations of Afghans was important as they were much more determined to do better. Again, I experienced this personally as well. We managed essentially a stalemate in Afghanistan, with regards to the safety and security of American troops and holding off the Taliban forces. The Afghans were fighting back, with our air support assets providing them cover. We could have continued that effort, found more ways to retire and remove the older leaders and enabled the best of what Afghanistan had to offer to assume control. We did not need to leave. Regardless, the manner in which we left was also not acceptable.
4. You're right... We've done nothing more than to ensure we will return to this region again, and take back ground we once already took.

Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin My apologies with my incorrect historical statements it just seems like everything that's happened over there during the last 3 decades just ran together coexistentily back to back.

No worries... Context is important, which is why I responded. My career essentially started as a cadet in AFROTC watching Desert Storm happen on TV to the decision of our President to start pulling the military advisors out of Afghanistan in 2014. It was then when we truly ended training and preparing the Afghan forces. We knew they were not ready and we briefed Gen Dunford our 3 year plan to significantly improve their capabilities. He agreed and took those recommendations to the President. They were denied and he was order to begin the withdraw of military advisors. Shortly after I left Shindand Air Base in Feb 14 (the equivalent of our own Air Education and Training Command... i.e. pilot training and how to manage an air base), the remaining US/coalition forces left by 2014. The US attempted to continue training Afghan pilots, but in the US only. That was not enough and we neglected the need to continue training them to manage, maintain, and protect an Air Base. The reason we were at essentially a stalemate with the Taliban over the last couple of years is because we continued to augment their forces with our air assets. Once we started to withdraw over the last couple of weeks, the Taliban were easily able to overcome Afghan forces as they still did not have a mature enough Air Force. Nor did their leaders know how to effectively use it. We needed more time to mature them.