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>Pakistan is the one that concerns me, too. North Korea is so dysfunctional, basically broke, that I don't know how much harm they can do other than fire on the occasional South Korean boat. Afghanistan has been inhospitable forever, ruled by tribes and warlords and the Taliban in places, with the most corrupt government on earth, but IMO they constitute no threat to us. So why are we there exactly? Pakistan, that's another story. They have nuclear capability now and with the unstable political climate you have to worry what might happen if some wackos take power.

But that's the difficulty in just exiting Afghanistan. Of course they are no threat to us ( except as a safe haven for our enemies, which is pretty much the case now ). But they border Iran and Pakistan. Baghram and some other airbases are probably a lot more important strategically than Kabul. And I'm sure there are other locations there that don't get a lot of publicity which give us a little more of an edge than we otherwise might have.

We just need to make sure that whatever disfunctional bunch of thugs and warlords runs the place will stay bought so we can continue to do and have the stuff there we *really* care about.

I think that may be what we have accomplished in Iraq - at least I sure hope so.