Further, estimating the direct costs of America’s operations in Afghanistan cannot capture the lasting shame of how it ended. - Wars are easy to get into, hard to get out of.
Bullshit empty sentiment the author doesn't bother to quantify. There is no good way to get out of a unwanted war. Bush put us there and it took 3 presidents later to have the balls to admit the mistake, and end it.
As an avoidable and catastrophic human tragedy unfolds as U.S. government personnel and military forces leave Afghanistan, various analyses are using different yardsticks to determine how much American treasure supported 20 years of combat and supporting operations.