The only "spin" is see in all this is the hair-tearing garment-rending hysteria implicit is terms like "abandon", "bug out", "cut and run".

Try dropping that and looking at it calmly.

Obviously every strategy and every campaign requires periodic assessment. If there's no visible progress and returns on investment are totally out of proportion to cost, those campaigns either need a completely new strategy or they need to be terminated. There are no blank checks and no nation can afford to eternally throw resources into a black hole that shows no sign of progress, especially when no remotely vital strategic need is served.

Is the campaign in Afghanistan working? I don't think so.

Has anyone proposed a clear, coherent, realistic strategy to make it work... not just another strategy for suppressing the Taliban, but a strategy for putting together a self-sustaining Afghan state that fits American preferences? If they have, it's a well-kept secret.

So realistically and without emotional hysteria, given the enormous cost, the economic and political constraints, the absence of any evidence of progress and the lack of viable alternative strategies, what's the argument for staying in?

There are no blank checks or eternal commitments; never have been, never will be. It seems pretty clear to me at least that at this point our presence is an actual obstacle to progress: as long as the Americans are there to do the spending and the fighting, there is no incentive for the Afghan Government to even try to sustain or defend itself.

The US cannot transform Afghanistan or guarantee Afghan security, any more than we can for any country other than our own. The most we can do is give them a half chance and a window to put things together on their own. At some point they have to stand up and take responsibility for themselves, and it looks like that point is getting closer. I don't see any abandonment or betrayal in recognizing that.