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this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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At the time it was correct and very much not pointless. Where we fucked up was staying around and trying to nation build. Moment we destroyed al qaeda we should have left.
Edit: Afghanistan was in response to 9/11 not Iraq...
Al Qaeda was never in Iraq though.
Afghanistan was in response to 9/11 and where nato allies helped...
Completely different war.
Mission accomplished! (/s)
My implication is that if we really wanted to get Bin Laden / Al-Qaeda, the more sensible targets were Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. Which of course we didn't go after. We had a goal of spilling some Arab blood, but wanted a target that would be a cooperative punching bag.
And even then, we still fucking failed. Al-Qaeda still exists. Or it was consumed by/transformed into/always secretly was just a branch of Daesh who are still going strong. Or maybe they weren't really a coherent organization in the first place and were always more grassroots/franchised. Not to mention the Taliban are right back in power and doing their same shit. We accomplished nothing more than running the best possible recruitment campaign for the next generation of west-hating religious extremist warriors.
I wouldn't call it completely pointless. But I also wouldn't call it a success. Taliban are in power but they don't have interest in terrorizing the west (for now at least...) which at least is some sort of win. Other organizations with aspiration to attack the west were severely degraded in the war like al qaeda.
When did we destroy al qaeda?
There is a very long and informative wiki page about that and the Afghanistan war invite you to read. They were obliterated very early in the war.
As for a less smart ass response. They won't ever be "truly" gone. Same as ISIS. But we effectively beheaded the organization and prevented it from mounting any sort of serious attacks on the US and allies for the foreseeable future.
Modern day al qaeda is completely different from the organization of 2001 and a shell of its former self.