The “Graveyard of Empires”, it’s a pretty good indication that our continuing involvement is not in our benefit:

NATO forces should stay in Afghanistan until their job is done, Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, suggesting they should stay beyond a planned withdrawal of most combat troops in 2014.

“It is regrettable that many participants in this operation are thinking about how to pull out of there,” Putin said at a meeting with paratroopers in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk. “They took up this burden and should carry it to the end.”

He isn’t suggesting this because he cares about the Afghan people, and he isn’t suggesting this because it’s in the interest of the US or its NATO allies.

He’s doing this because it places stress on the US military and NATO, and as such it serves to ameliorate the threat that he perceives from them.

Say what you will about Putin, but our best interests is ths last thing that he has on his mind,