War in Afghanistan was fought to dismantle Al-Qaeda Network and punish Taliban for supporting it. Job well done in this case because Al-Qaeda Network is virtually wiped out from the region and the war was settled in Doha Accords in Qatar with Pakistani mediation where Afghan Taliban agreed to not support Al-Qaeda Network like in the past and US agreed to withdraw its forces in exchange. This was the bone of contention from the start. Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda Network had brotherly relations but Afghan Taliban had to come to terms with the fact that Al-Qaeda Network cannot be saved.
Biden administration botched the withdrawal process and created bad optics on the other hand. Biden administration chose to respect Doha Accords and didn't want to explain this matter to his Afghan allies. US-backed Afghan setup melted as soon as US pulled its troops from the country. Critics of Joe Biden heavily bashed him for botching the withdrawal process, his approval rating declined.
You cannot occupy a country for 20 years if you are not dominant or capable in military terms. Afghan Taliban could attack military positions but had to retreat from many of these battles due to heavy losses.
No tech failure at all - a large number of terrorists were eliminated with precision strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. US had ample opportunity to test its drones in this environment and learn from experience.
US-led forces defeated the much bigger and stronger ISIL movement in the Middle East in a COIN masterstroke (
Operation Inherent Resolved). This while US was pounding terrorists in Afghanistan as well but this war was affecting Pakistan as well. Pakistan had provided access to Pakistan and PTI-led government did its best to convince Trump administration to settle the war in Afghanistan.
You might want to watch what Donald Trump said to Imran Khan when the latter was in White House.
Come on, bro. Muslims in modern times are doing so bad in conflicts because they do not seem to understand strengths of their adversaries. You (figuratively speaking) can claim victory when you can stop the invading source at your borders. Having your country occupied for many years with the invading forces using it for experiments and forcing you to give up on your brothers for peace and claim victory on this count is a face saving tall claim. This is what I see in Afghanistan.
