. If US fails in Afghanistan, the Taliban will retake that country and al Qaeda will have its most secure base of operations back. And now, if we fail, the Taliban and al Qaeda will turn their attention to taking over Pakistan, and at this point in history, they have a great chance of succeeding.
What would result from failure is a region stretching from the Persian Gulf–yes, I am including Iran here–to India containing a billion people ruled by religious extremists in possession of nuclear weapons or the technology to build more. The United States cannot afford such a failure. The world cannot afford such a failure.
It has been a long eight years. A lot has happened that has led to the moment the world now faces, but whatever might have happened, the moment must be faced. The United States must succeed in Afghanistan because failure is an option no one wants to live with.
Evidently a lot of Pakistanis feel differant. If you think Pakistan has problems now wait till the Taliban are running things.