The longest war in American history is finally coming to its predictable conclusion: like every other invader that has ventured into what is now Afghanistan, from Alexander to the Soviet Union, we leave the place to its people with little accomplished other than a lot of blood shed and a fortune wasted. We came with an uncertain goal and leave it to an uncertain future. Whether the Taliban will regain control after we’re gone in 2013 or 2014, or whether the shaky, corrupt government of Hamid Karzai will somehow hang on, we made few friends and hardly dissuaded our enemies. Perhaps Afghanistan will no longer be a gathering place for this country’s enemies now that Osama bin Laden has been dispatched, and we can go back to blissfully ignoring that benighted backwater. Just as likely, the Taliban will regroup after we’re gone and it and its friends will continue to plot attacks on Americans abroad and at home. Either way, the price in blood and resources was high and the rewards elusive. Not that we’ll have long to dwell on those questions. Next stop, Iran.

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