The US Really Has No Idea How It’ll Withdraw From Afghanistan

The US Really Has No Idea How It’ll Withdraw From Afghanistan | VICE News: "Sometimes the end of a conventional war is a very clear-cut deal. Wars end cleanly when one party is able to decisively establish a particular reality and the other is incapable of challenging the new status quo. Historically, the immediate post-conflict routine for the winner is typically straightforward: bases are built, garrisons are established, troops get rotated home, equipment is stored, paperwork is filed, and forces are demobilized. It’s also reasonably clear for the losers; they leave the field of battle according to terms set by the victor. The soldiers of the defeated, broken army return to their families and homes — or what’s left of them — and try to readjust to the new post-war reality.
But, as we know, wars don’t always end so crisply. Some end with a ceasefire, an armistice, or the presence of a peacekeeping force. Others end when one side just up and retreats, or when combatants utterly wear themselves out and quit fighting. Some conflicts just kind of trail off, bit by bit, until they’re over."