War in Afghanistan for 20 years was a big money laundering machine. Everyone involved in it made money, from military to local Afghans. No responsibility at all, the decision was made in 08 already to end this. And only 12-13 years later it finally happened.
You can't create a centralized democratic state in those places. It's a pipedream for all those human right defenders who imagine that everyone in this world thinks like them. The bullshyt got to such a point where military would fake the numbers on how many Talibs they killed, to show that there is a growing resistance and therefore get more funds to fight them. Or a local Talib and Afghan ally from western funded government being in family ties, faking a conflict to get money