Welcome, Mr. Donovan.
I did not read your entire text closely, but concentrated more on certain parts of it that interested me more, particularly your conclusion, which is close to being pessimistic. I would like you to explain where there still might be light at the end of the tunnel.
Right before the end, in the French version, you state the following:
Importantly, however, the time to create significant changes through democratization is finite, and efforts must be sustained over the long term to achieve success.
This means that we must be extremely patient.
Your conclusion is as follows:
[...] achieving sustainable democracy in Afghanistan is one of the more complex and difficult problems in the world. We should measure our expectations against that reality.
I imagine that you would not go so far as to say that we should leave Afghanistan. Could you please explain.