Good point, Rob. I believe this war, like all wars, should be fought for a practical reason, not just because it makes us feel good, or to prove how tough we are, like some schoolyard punk. And there is only one practical reason that always justifies war: self-defense.

I think the Taliban need to be punished because they sheltered Al-Quaeda, and Al-Quaeda attacked our country and we need to punish them. We need to punish both of them not for revenge, or to make us feel better, or to show what bad asses we are, but for one and only one reason: to demonstrate that attacking America has risks. In other words, to deter aggression we must show that aggression has a cost, and that offering sanctuary to those aggressors is just as dangerous. The destruction of 9/11 is over, there is nothing we can do about that now. We must fight in Afghanistan to deter future attacks on the USA. That qualifies as self-defense as far as I'm concerned. That's why we have generals.

Everything else, nation building, pre-emptive war, strategic positioning, national honor, are all lame excuses used by aggressors. And I don't even want to hear the moral excuse, that we're "fighting for freedom". The world is filled with countries that abuse their own people, we can't and don't fight all of them. We usually "defend the freedom" of countries that have something we want, like petroleum or a strategic location. The rest generally have to fend for themselves. Morality is the excuse used by cowards and bullies, because they know all the others come across as self-serving bullshit.

There are other valid reasons to go to war, such as honoring a treaty obligation where we have offered another nation our protection and they are maliciously attacked, or when we join with a group of other nations to redress some great injustice or international crime. But these cases are always ambiguous, judgment calls. That's why we have diplomats.

As long as we have some chance of punishing Al-Quaeda and the Taliban, we have an obligation to "Push on for Victory". The moment it is clear that our continued presence there will not accomplish that goal, that it may actually serve their purposes instead, we are fools for pressing on, digging ourselves deeper into a hole of our own making.

I'll grant you that knowing when we have crossed that line is a question that is highly debatable, honest people will disagree on the answer. But we must not forget that it is a valid question, a business decision. We need to recognize a time may come when we have no choice but to cut our losses. That's why we have presidents.