The Taliban were willing to turn over bin Laden? I must have missed that one. Please tell us how we could have plucked bin Laden and al Qaeda loose from Afghanistan, left the Taliban peacefully in power, and ended the threat of terror from Afghanistan that way? For sure, the Taliban would have foresworn forever any radical Islamic ideas after that.

You not only have nothing, you're moving into negative territory, the foreign policy equivalent of water-burning carburators.

The pipeline myth was blown out of the water years ago, but it's telling that you're scraping that deep into the barrel.

Are you even AWARE of what the Taliban was, or why al Qaeda based itself among them?