Good morning.

This is the last American plane out of Afghanistan.



While not nearly as dramatic as the photo of the last helicopter leaving Saigon, it's still a sobering thought.

I counted the days today. From October 7, 2001 all the way up to yesterday is a grand total of 7,268 days we've been in this quagmire. It has been called the longest war in American history, but only perhaps because Vietnam is even more nebulous and convoluted - there's no real "start" and "end" dates there.

In any case, we leave Afghanistan to an uncertain future. Whatever happens there may or may not spill out onto the rest of the world. But what we have done is lay the groundwork there for decades, or even centuries of revenge attacks on the West.

Was it worth it?

As of today, it appears that the United States is luckier than our Cold War counterpart. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979; they found it no easier to conquer than we did. They were there for nine years vs. our twenty. But just two years after the Red Army withdrew, the entire Soviet system collapsed. One can only wonder where we will be in two years ourselves.