[blueash]

Originally Posted by frose

oh yea we learned. here it is 20 years later and the same taliban leaders are back in control of afganistan. you have to ask yourself how this could be, then look around washinton and you know.

You may wish to read the Doha agreements AKA "Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan" made between the US government and the Taliban and signed in February 2020. It begins with:

The United States is committed to withdraw from Afghanistan all military forces of the United States, its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel within fourteen (14) months following announcement of this agreement

If you are calendar challenged, 14 months after Feb 2020 is April 2021, all US forces are to be out. Everyone had plenty of warning..
You may even recall who was in control of the state department in 2020. Of particular interest in regard to your assessment are sections D and E of Part One which says that the US government will remove all Taliban members from our list of sanctions so that they can participate. The effect of this section was to allow those who were on our list of terrorists to come off the list and be part of the political process in Afghanistan.

D. With the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, the United States will initiate an administrative review of current U.S. sanctions and the rewards list against members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban with the goal of removing these sanctions by August 27, 2020, which corresponds to Muharram 8, 1442 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Saunbola 6, 1399 on the Hijri Solar calendar.
E. With the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, the United States will start diplomatic engagement with other members of the United Nations Security Council and Afghanistan to remove members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban from the sanctions list with the aim of achieving this objective by May 29, 2020, which corresponds to Shawwal 6, 1441 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Jawza 9, 1399 on the Hijri Solar calendar.

Now tell me again about how this could be and suggest again I look at those in Washington. Instead you might want to look at those living on the coast of Florida who set the date for US withdrawal and specifically said those in the Taliban would no longer be subject to sanctions. This agreement did not require the approval of the House or Senate and was entirely the product of the executive branch.

These facts may not fit your world view of how the US came to withdraw and have the Taliban take over, but it is the actual truth of the matter.