Lest we forget.

Rather am I King of Prussia than Emperor in Germany!
William I

Rather do I fight the Taliban than in Afghanistan!
any sane military commander

Just like the Catholic Church won the Kulturkampf by losing it, i.e. giving the adversary the rope to hang himself, the Taliban got rid of any Afghan opposition.

There is so much chatter, so much talk of the obvious, and at the same time about restarting the war in Afghanistan, but [of course...] no analysis of the obvious occurrence. You know, we live through Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only with apparently very dim-witted aliens.