Do you believe pulling out of Afghanistan soon will lead to "failure," i.e. Taliban, al Qaeda, etc?

Abandon Afghanistan like GHW Bush did? Back to square one?

Now they're using the "falling dominoes" nonsense to cover their sorry asses.

Its really a better question actually. If you rule that out, you only have a single option.

I think "success in Afghanistan" needs to be defined before any strategic decisions are made.

they are now in Yemen causing trouble.the taliban never did anything to us.

That al Queda left Afghanistan is a success of the war. That the Taliban would welcome them back is still an unacceptable liability.

we effectively turn Afghanistan over to Al Quaeda. That amps up the threat to Pakistan, which has the bomb. Call bullshit if you like, but the problems aren't going to go away just because we decide we don't want to play any more.

I thought it was a terible mistake for Rumsfeld, Bush, and all th neocons to call Afghanistan a win and move onto Iraq - unbelievable hubris, in fact. Rumsfeld made the major error of thinking that because the US and allies swiftly won the ground war and installed a new government, they had put the problem to bed and could take up other challenges.

Afghanistan has become a terrible mess due to the neglect of the previous administration, but I think that walking away from it would be a drastic mistake, essentially a repeat of of past policy failures in that area (which are evenly divided between both parties).

Is to dick around for another six or 12 or 18 months and then pull out. Since I haven't heard a definition of what success might look like in Afghanistan, I presume it occupies the same general vicinity in time as space as unicorns, griffins and narwhals, the province of Erehwon.

a halt in civilian attacks
Pakistan re-establishes government control over Waziristan and cross-border attacks cease
one, preferably two peaceful and credible elections
Sustained economic growth in Afghanistan of >3%
Literacy levels top 75%, gender equality in education
Opium production falls due to better economic alternatives

I'm not sure how having 100,000 troops running around with rifles, tanks, bombers and other implements of war brings us closer to achieving any of those objectives.

To which I can only reply, that the various warlords and their followers based out of Waziristan that control most of Southern Afghanistan show no inclination to go away by themselves. It is not that I think we are doing a great job there, in fact I think our failure to follow up on the initial military success has created new problems.

On the other hand, if we walk away from the country I think we're basically just going to see it go back to where it was by 2000, only more so. Honestly, I think it's going to take another year or two before we see any definite progress. Part of why I supported Obama from back in 2007 was that I thought he was the only candidate who was addressing this important issue and willing to speak hard truths about it.