That was my point, and perhaps I'm being overly sensitive. The professionals left because they were told to. The Taliban didn't out wait the professionals, they waited out the politicians in the states, who are decidedly not professional.
No, sorry that I wasn't clear. That's what I meant, and I guess my point as well.
While our soldiers were there, things were at least somewhat in hand, at least as much as the ever changing ROEs would allow. Politicians sent the soldiers there, and politicians pulled them out, in this case in a piss poor manner, so there was no one left to keep the locals from doing their thing.