Easy Street - don't think I've ever been so much in agreement with a fellow contributor to PPrune but absolutely 100% spot on with the above. Just to add though that 9/11 was seen by many (myself included), that an attack on one NATO member should be considered as an attack on all. Therefore, having identified the bad guys as AQ with a powerbase in the Stan, it should have been unquestionable for any NATO partner not to offer full support in dealing with the threat. There has been too much negative media commentary over recent days questioning why we were ever involved in the first place but I haven't seen anyone mention the NATO angle. Of course, the nation building element that followed on from the destruction of AQ is worthy of debate but this should not be confused with the initial action.
Secondly, you quite rightly mention the democratic wishes of the American people. Some early news comments were suggesting that 70% of the US population were fully supportive of Biden's actions. This is a huge level of support if accurate although he is now being painted as a senile clown! Whilst it's just possible that none of our leaders could have predicted the speed of the Taliban takeover (although I'm sure it's no surprise to many of our Armed Forces members), I haven't seen any MP provide a cogent argument as to why we did absolutely nothing with 18 months notice of the US departure. Perhaps there was too much focus on Love Island?