The security rationale for continuing to fight this lost war is to prevent a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan from being a sanctuary for terrorist groups. But Al Qaeda’s presence Afghanistan in the lead-up to 9/11 did not have real operational utility in enabling the terrorist group to perpetrate the attacks on New York and Washington. The attacks were also planned from Germany and Malaysia, and even the United States itself. In an age of instant global communications, a territorial haven in remote, land-locked Afghanistan isn’t much help to terrorist groups plotting to attack the west.