It will come down to this sooner or later.  All the boots on the ground and drone strikes in the world will not magically solve the Afghanistan problem for the west.  Unless we as the so called civilized nations of the West decide to turn Afghanistan into nuclear slag, achieving complete victory(?) will be impossible.  A former British Commander in the Afghan theatre said:

“The head of the British Army says he believes talks with the Taliban should begin “pretty soon,” but that discussions shouldn’t lead insurgents to think they have an advantage.

Calling his position a “purely private view,” Gen. Sir David Richards told the BBC on Sunday that he didn’t know when talks could begin. But Richards, a former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said, “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be looking at that sort of thing pretty soon.”

About time, in my opinion.  Invading Afghanistan was pure folly in the first place, as any student of history can tell you.  Even the general is getting cold feet.:

“He said in any counter-insurgency campaign, there comes “a point [at] which you start to negotiate with each other.”

Yet, we went ahead with visions of protecting democracy and fighting terrorism dancing in our heads.  Yet another great imperial army has more than met its match in Afghanistan.  The sooner we leave the better.