Certainement. We certainly could.
There's a risk there--I would be lying to you if I said otherwise--but to my mind it is an issue of will. I mean, if the western world has said Afghanistan is a place where we are going to be counted--that we are going to ensure that this nation will be allowed to prosper, that it is going to be peaceful, that Taliban extremism will not use it as a base of operation and continue to then export it around the world--then we have a collective responsibility to make that happen. I would suggest, looking around the collective international table, that there are a lot of other people who need to look in the mirror in terms of whether they're doing their share, but if we just fall into step with those who would rather not get involved or do their share, are we any better than they are? I'd like to think that we are better than that. That's a personal view, but I'd like to think that we are better than that.
If we continually say it's all too expensive and we should get out before it fails, then I'm sorry, that is not commitment; that is not national will. That, to be blunt, is cowardice.