There were only two ways to go here:

1) Utter annihilation and the moral difficulty of that.  Complete subjugation doesn't fit our nation's self-image, either. 

2) What we did.  One might argue that the pullout should have come earlier.  Obama probably couldn't politically, and given other military retreats, it is a bit surprising Trump didn't.  Perhaps his military advisors made a particularly strong case that a return to terrorist-haven status would be imminent.

Ultimately, our situation was like Russia's except we didn't lose as many resources there (I did lose a good friend who was a career US Army officer).  So in that sense, we came out a bit better.  How long until Wahabi Islam is called what it is - the utter equivalent of Nazism - just as bad - and is made an international pariah?  That has to happen at some point.  The Taliban is anathema to reason - 8 million times worse than the Trumpists, who are themselves pretty bad.