The highest law in this land is the Constitution, of which, the President of the United States, has the explicit duty to protect and to defend that Constitution, but apparently those words are just words, because, the only body in America, that can authorize and thereby declare war, is actually Congress; but yet, America has been in numerous non-congressional authorized wars and is today, still at war. America would not be at war with Afghanistan if it was not for the Imperial Presidency that marches in lockstep with the military-industrial complex, and furthermore, it does not apparently matter as to the party of the President in power, for President Bush declared war on Afghanistan in 2001, of which, he served two terms, whereupon President Obama came into power, and also served two terms, and fought the very same war, and now President Trump is in power, and the war with Afghanistan has still not ended.
In point of fact, at a minimum, 50% of Americans, could not point out where Afghanistan is on a map, mainly because Afghanistan is more than 7,000 miles away from America, and furthermore those same 50% plus more, could not succinctly give the reason as to why we are at war with Afghanistan, unless statements such as "to get the bad guys" are considered to be an informed answer. The fact of the matter is that Afghanistan is absolutely no threat to America, and wasn't a threat to America, back in 2001, when war with Afghanistan was first declared. Afghanistan, itself, has a population that is less than the population of California, as well as being a little bit smaller in area than the State of Texas, yet, in seventeen long years, America, alone, or with its coalition partners, has not defeated Afghanistan.
All of the above, serves to prove the point, that the reason that this endless war remains endless, is that it's good for the military-industrial complex, and also because pretty much all that occurs within the borders of Afghanistan is effectively ignored by the compliant mainstream media, which thereby allows that military-industrial complex to pretty much do whatever that they so desire, without any consequences or negative feedback. So too, wars are always a good excuse to keep the population somewhat unnerved, and in this case, the sanctioned orthodox position is that amorphous terrorism can strike America at any time, at anywhere, so that the population must recognize that measures must be taken to defeat the enemy far away from our shores for our sound protection.
The true bottom line, though, is Afghanistan never was a threat to America and America therefore really does not need to bother with Afghanistan, especially in consideration that if Afghanistan really wanted to strike back, it would in all probability, try to strike back against western targets in Europe or possibly to attack Russia, which are much easier objectives to try to strike at, rather than America, because this landlocked country, would be hard pressed to effectively reach America by any means of sustainability or impact.
The fact that Americans are fighting and dying and getting wounded in Afghanistan, is an absolute disgrace, because those lives as well as the effected lives of all Afghanistan citizens are essentially being wasted so that the military-industrial complex can make their blood money.