Gromit - "It was the War on Terror.
Terror and Terrorism are still with us, more so. The mission failed."
The phrase 'War on Terror' was, is, and will always be - a meaningless soundbite which sounds gung ho and very like Bush likes to see himself.
Terror is an abstract concept, you can't fight against it, you might as well have a War On Atmosphere, but that would be silly wouldn't it? Exactly.
By definitiion, terrorism, and that is what the illiterate ex-president meant, is something it is impossible to 'win' against, however attractive that sounds - and of course it is still with us, and always will be as long as the West proclaims itself the world's police force and attempts to force the utterly alien concept of democracy on a country which is still living in the twelth century.
Of course the Afghanistan mission failed - how could it ever succeed?
There was never any real solid reason for invasion - curtailing poppy production was once bandied about - what ever happened to that, apart from the fact that poppy exports are bigger now than ever!
More importantly, in the rush to 'go in. no proper thought was ever given to how we would 'come out' again - and now we see the Taliban, waiting as they always have over the centuries, for the latest invading force to run out of steam, support, and bodies, and leave.
The Taliban only have to wait, and watch history repeat itself.
The West has to go home, the Taliban already are home.