I don't disagree with the President here. We were there 20 damn years. We gave them the best equipment and training money could buy. Every time there was contact and we were teamed with our Afghan "partners," they'd cut and run. If they do not have the resolve and the courage to fight for their nation, and as you see it playing out they don't, then what help can we give them? We can't fight for them. We left them billions of dollars in weapons, ammunition, ground equipment and aircraft. Most of it has already been captured by the Taliban. They have to fight or be serfs, it's that simple. I'm not going to weep for them, because we gave them the upper hand and they squandered it through cowardice.
If you want my personal opinion on that conflict, it was lost the minute politicians started putting their fingers on it. Rules of engagement hamstrung our forces to the point that the most powerful military in the world fought to a stalemate with lightly armed rabble. We surrendered so much treasure and so many lives fighting for a people that refused to fight for themselves and even knifed us in the back the minute the Taliban caught up with them. Had the politicians stayed out of it and let the generals do their jobs, we could have crushed the Taliban in pretty short order. We did actually. Ran them out of the country. Then the "rules" started, and the Taliban learned those rules and exploited them to their advantage.
After that ****, we should have cut sling the minute we took Bin Laden's scalp. What mission was left after that, besides nation building? And we suck at nation building. There was and is no chance Afghanistan ever accepts a western style democracy. Should have clearly defined the mission, accomplished it, and got the hell out. Could have claimed victory, mission accomplished, whatever instead of leaving with our tails between our legs.
And for the record, I can assure you that had we waited until September like Trump had planned, the result would have been exactly the same. The media reaction would have been markedly different I'm sure, but the result would have been the same.