My two cents.

I didn't want to say anything about the god damned war, but then we watched MSNBC for two hours. So here's what i got:

It does not matter how effective your Counter Insurgency (COIN) forces are, you can't polish a turd. I was never in Afghanistan, I spent my three tours in Iraq - so this is NOT an opinion informed by personal experience. This is an opinion expressed by someone who HAS conducted COIN operations for nineteen months, trained for said operations over a four year period, and studied COIN in a scholastic manner for two years.

The Karzai government stretches credibility here in the US, I cannot imagine what the Afghan people think about its legitimacy.

If the government of Afghanistan is not legitimate, is not seen as legitimate abroad, and is not accepted by the Afghan people as legitimate it. will. fail. The United States cannot prop it up and make it a cogent alternative to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Do it right, pour troops in troops to secure the country, unfuck the government by rebooting from whole cloth, and be prepared for ten more god damned years in that hellhole -- or get the fuck out and lets stop this fucking nightmare.

Those are the only two options I believe will work. Anything else is waffling and sinking deeper into this quagmire.