American military in afghanistan

[The Valkyrie]

No, although people forget that Afghanistan was actually a NATO led operation, so there wouldn't have been much choice anyway.

NATO was there at the behest of the United States, at a time when the notion of a relatively honest and publically minded character of American international leadership was actually thought to have been a believable proposition, not a rip roaring punch line.

NZ and Aus are also there and we're not part of NATO.