Question. The generals give advice, the civilians make the decisions. If that's true then can we say Biden lost the Afghanistan war?

via Task and Purpose.

Milley was not the only top U.S. military commander who foresaw that America’s Afghan allies could not survive without American forces on the ground. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., the head of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers on Tuesday that he had recommended last fall that the military keep 4,500 troops in the country.

“I also have a view that the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces, and eventually the Afghan government,” McKenzie said.

On Nov. 9, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper recommended to Trump that the U.S. military maintain between 2,500 and 4,500 troops in Afghanistan until conditions on the ground permitted further reductions, Milley said.

But Trump fired Esper that very day and deliberations about the troop withdrawal became chaotic. Milley publicly revealed on Tuesday that he received an “unclassified, signed order” on Nov. 11 to pull all American forces out of Afghanistan by Jan. 15.

“After further discussions regarding the risks associated with such a withdrawal, the order was rescinded,” Milley said.  

Ultimately, Trump ordered the military to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 2,500, plus enablers, he said. By the time Biden took office, about 3,500 U.S. troops were in the country, roughly 1,000 more than the Pentagon admitted at the time.

Biden initially refused to commit to the withdrawal of all American forces from Afghanistan by the May 1 deadline agreed to by the Trump administration, but in April the president announced that he would end the U.S. military’s nearly 20-year presence in Afghanistan.

Tuesday’s hearing featured a tortured debate about whether military commanders had recommended that Biden keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, which ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked Biden about during an April interview.

“No, they didn’t,” Biden said at the time. “It was split. That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true.”

Here 

1.  Answer the question in the title.

2.  Knowing what we know now, would it have made sense to remain or was getting out of Afghanistan worth it no matter what.

3.  Can anyone answer what the strategic implications of this loss are?

4.  Can anyone answer why our mission evolved into nation building instead of simply crushing terrorists?

5.  Can it be said that the idea of cultural change brought on by conquest CANNOT be accomplished by Western forces in the modern era...which means nation building is beyond our capabilities?