Back in 2010 the newest iteration of Sherlock Holmes appeared on TV, this time with Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock, and the more robust representation of Dr. John Watson, the army doctor wounded in Afghanistan, played by Martin Freeman.

What was so remarkable about that? This modern-era Watson was impacted by Afghanistan just as the ORIGINAL Dr. Watson, in Victorian times, was an injured veteran of an Afghan campaign.

Afghanistan is complicated and isn't about to be sorted out by Western nations.

I'm seeing a lot of commentary about the departure of US troops from Afghanistan this week, but if anyone has been paying attention to history, this was always the way it was going to end. It just took a long time for someone to acknowledge that and just get the hell out.

Nearly 20 years ago the Washington Post ran a perspective piece about Afghanistan:
Afghanistan's Rugged Land and People Carved by History

The probable battleground for our current war has, for most of human history, been the turbulent crossroads of Central Asia: a place where man's noblest instincts and achievements have warred with his lust to rule by terror. Osama bin Laden is only the latest prophet of violence to make it his base.

Whole civilizations rose and died in Afghanistan 2,000 years before Christ. Alexander the Great founded Kandahar, its second-largest city, which still bears his name. Uzbeks and Persians have braved its mountain passes with dreams of conquest. Tajiks and Greeks have shivered in its avalanches and sheltered in its caves.

On the southwestern border with Iran, toward the minarets of Zabol and Isfahan, stretch the ruins of an immense and ancient city no one can name. They lie at the edge of the Desert of Death.

The topic is bound to come up, so I'm giving it a broad base for discussion. There is no point in just discussing the Trump v Biden part of it or the "why didn't Obama pull out once they killed Bin Laden" or even "what in hell was George W. Bush thinking?"

The UK couldn't do it, Russia couldn't do it, and the US couldn't do it. My heart breaks for those citizens stuck with the power structure as it is now, but short of giving them an avenue out of that mess, there isn't a lot that can be done. China shares a short part of border with Afghanistan; perhaps they will next enter the fray.

Let the hand-wringing commence.