Last summer I was telling everyone who did not first see me coming, that I was sure we would get Osama bin-Laden last July. The point being, I would tell the struggling, but hapless, phonetic equivalent of ballistic putty, that once bin-Laden was gone, we could Leave.
As in leave Afghanistan. Ever wince Sen Obama became Candidate Obama, my "between the lines" impression of his Afghanistan strategy was basically, get bin-Laden then get out. By killing bin Laden, America now declare victory in simple, easy-to-define terms.
Why not before? Well, no matter what you think of things, Pakistan is unstable and it does have nuclear weapons. I do feel President Obama doubled down in Afghanistan because the US presence did put a damper on direct conflict between Pakistan/India.
(Remember that when 9/11 happened, India and Pakistan were playing nuclear test blast tit-for-tat.)
Obviously, he US could not do that forever. So getting bin-Laden was key. Now, come Hell or high water, the USA can leave Afghanistan. And can do so with the reasonable part of the world agreeing that America got the job done.
I know this is over simplifying things. But sometimes, war goals really are that simple.
It is a great evening. Tonight let's just be happy Americans!