Thread by @RadioFreeTom

Part of the problem all along has been the "forever war" moniker that isolationists of the right and left stuck on this. It's not a war. It was policing and prevention. But we're not allowed to say that. So it became "America's longest war" long after it wasn't a war. /1

https://twitter.com/KingstonAReif/status/1382458025303273474

There were other problems: No military commanders wanted to accept that they couldn't "solve" this, so they kept saying "it's going well." Sure it was, if you mean "not a base for another 9/11," which is a good metric. /2

And yes, the early years were full of optimism that we could build a stable nation out of AFG. This was too big a job and we weren't ever going to commit to something that size, esp by using the military. /3

But the biggest problem of all was us, the people. We wanted zero-defect security, no casualties, no major involvement. We wanted the partisan glow of calling whoever was going to order a pullout a betrayer and a coward, and whoever stayed in a warmonger. #KobiyashiMaru
/4

Also, you can all stop tweeting inane comments at me until you see "/x", and then you can tweet away. This is why people lock tweets.

/5

"/5" means there's another tweet coming that might obviate whatever you think can't wait

I think Biden making a decision is better than the paralysis and lack of attention that overtook us these past 20 years. I think we're buying future dangers and hurting our friends with it - but we don't have the heart to just accept that we're in an imperial policing mode. /6

And if the American public isn't going to commit one way or another - as it hasn't now for years - than risking the lives of our citizens there is pointless. A future generation of Americans will have to deal with the fallout from this, but for now, I think this is right. /7x