Obama wasted American effort in Iraq, now will waste American effort in Afghanistan

A while back I wrote of the disastrous consequences of Obama's withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq:

So, after so much American blood and treasure was spent on overthrowing Saddam Hussein and Iraq seemed to be emerging from its decades-long nightmare under Saddam, now it is instead threatening to become yet another failed nation under Iranian control and a potential training ground for extremists. Civil war between Shiites and Sunnis is breaking out and America is powerless to do anything about it. Iraq is falling into the same abyss that Syria has fallen into. All this, because Obama's disastrous "leading from behind," "hitting singles and doubles," toothless "redlines," foreign policy has withdrawn the American forces that would have given him the ability to influence the situation. ... It is possible to argue about the wisdom of George Bush's initial decision to invade Iraq. But, once that investment had been made (we are talking about 4500 American lives, after all, and Mr Obama is very fond of talking about investments), to withdraw all troops at the very moment when the investment was beginning to pay dividends is the action of an idiot.

Today we learned that Obama is going to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. Editorializes WSJ:

Mr. Obama's total withdrawal is all the more dismaying given the hard-won gains he now puts at risk. As in Iraq after the 2007-2008 surge, Afghanistan has registered genuine, if fragile, military and political progress. ...[A]s in Iraq, these gains can be reversed, and the odds of reversal increase without a credible U.S. military presence to help the next Afghan president fend off the Taliban and its allies in Tehran and Islamabad. ... [B]y setting a date for zero, Mr. Obama is denying the next [American] President options if things don't go so well. What happens if the Taliban return to threaten Kabul or Kandahar, or if the "core" al Qaeda around Ayman al-Zawahiri reconstitutes itself again? It'll be much harder to send troops back once they've all gone.

Imagine you are the parent of a young man who gave his life in Afghanistan to prevent it from being used as a launching pad for jihad against America, jihad of the kind we saw on the morning of 9/11. We accomplished that goal. We got bin Laden. We defeated the Taliban. But now Obama is pulling out, once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Such incredible waste.