“Some fear that accelerating it could further destabilize the country.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45152293/ns/world_news-christian_science_monitor/#.TrNDv_QUqnA

I don’t think it makes any difference if the US and NATO would have left 5 years ago, leaves now, in a year or in 10 years.  The outcome will be the same.

The only effect of staying there would be the more hatred toward the US we generate

The cheapest way to learn is from someone else’s mistakes.  The Russians had an interesting experience in Afghanistan a few years ago.  But that would be too easy.

If one can’t learn from someone else’s mistakes, then the next best thing is to learn from their own.  The US had an experience in Vietnam a few years ago, too, but it wasn’t a learning experience.

Arf