Afghan Cycle: How it works

[Mr Khan]

Kasz216 said:

Mr Khan said:
I think Obama could do it in a second term, similar to making progress on this "missile defense" idiocy. The fact of the matter is that some things just need to be done in regards to foreign policy, stuff that diplomats need to know that the uneducated masses can't interfere with: a Taliban coalition government with narrow control over Afghanistan is one of those things

Maybe if he doesn't care who's in the whitehouse after his second term.   I mean they become the party that "Dealt with the guys who protected the guys who did 9/11."

Which most people will shorten to "They dealt with the guys who commited 9/11".

My read on this is that the public as a whole (including many who profess to be on the right) is weary enough of the war that they'll support a negotiated settlement as long as it doesn't look like we're leaving with our tail between our legs and/or the Taliban don't completely take over after we go (e.g. stick to the negotiated settlement). Only really hawkish voters are going to be mad, and their ranks (even on the right) have been shrunken by Iraq and Afghanistan.