I'm not saying it's a realistic goal, but more that the USA went there committed to removing Al-Qaeda, Taliban insurgents, and stabilise the govt. Job's not done until those goals are achieved.

Oh alright, sorry about biting your head off over it then. :P

Vietnam took place over a course of 20 years, I think that might overtake Afghanistan a bit... I know that people are going to say "well the early years were covert guerilla warefare" well, so was the beginning of OEF.

Most would claim the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the build up of U.S. forces in 1964 as the actual start of the Vietnam war although, as you say, operations in Nam had been going on for a number of years previous to that. Which mirrors the black-ops in Afghanistan since the 1980s.

Should we pull out is a difficult question to answer. I truly feel sorry for whoever makes the decisions because, at the moment, whichever route is chosen it will be branded the wrong one. Originally when going to war the were tasks set out to be completed but can they actually be completed. I am not so much talking about removing Saddam from power as much as brining stability in all senses to the middle east. I am not sure that this is possible without a very long occupation. As mentioned previously though, if some sort of stability can be found through the rebuilding of the country, through education etc then hopefully the countries can start on the road to recovery. The problem however comes that the those we are fighting are able to move between countries and can keep planting IED’s etc to disrupt the recovery.

I suppose to ultimate dilemma is do you leave now saving our (UK/USA) lives but throwing the country into further disarray. Or stay, risking the lives of soldiers with the plan and hope that stability can be re-stored. If there is a chance of bringing stability to the middle east then that surely has to be taken? For me I say, don’t pull out because the country would be in a worse state then before and there is still a chance we can succeed.

The Dutch are already leaving. Government even fell because of this issue.

Afghanistan, US just nuke it and start all over. Sorry...

Maybe some nice people live there but the majority is just hopeless