Sometimes you wonder why we thought it would work in the first place . . . ..

. . . . and then other times you're sure we were positively ape-shit out of our minds.

Everyone--even our most strident Iraq war critics--agrees that we should have invaded Afghanistan, and that we should be focusing our efforts there, even as we get the hell out of Baghdad.

Just one example from Senator Barack Obama, the man who would not have supported the invasion of Iraq at all:

One of the things that I think is critical, as the next president, is to make absolutely certain that we not only phase out the Iraq but we also focus on the critical battle that we have in Afghanistan and root out al Qaeda. If we do not do that, then we're going to potentially see another attack here in the US. [June 2007 debate]

So we overthrew the Taliban, we're rooting around in the hills like a fat man trying to locate his wallet, and we've engaged in serious nation-building activities in support of moderate President Harmid Karzai.

Now we're trying to figure out a way to pass the ball to NATO.

So here's Al Jazeera today:

Thousands of Afghans have taken part in a second day of protests against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers and a Dutch film that reportedly criticises the Quran.

Demonstrators in the eastern city of Jalalabad burned flags and demanded that the cartoonist and the politician making the film be punished.

"We want the government of Denmark and Holland to arrest and bring to justice all those who are insulting Islam," one of the organisers of Sunday's protest said.

The protest came a day after about 5,000 people marched in the western city of Herat, chanting "Death to Holland, death to Denmark".

On Tuesday, in the capital Kabul, about 200 politicians shouted "Death to the enemies of Islam" outside the country's parliament.

Some protesters in Jalalabad called on the Kabul government to sever ties with Denmark and the Netherlands, while others demanded troops from the two countries leave Afghanistan.

"We don't want Dutch and Danish forces in Afghanistan. If our government does not kick them out, we will continue our demonstrations until they leave Afghanistan," Qari Ibrahim, a university student, said.

"If these forces do not leave, we are prepared to carry out suicide attacks against them."

The Netherlands has about 1,500 troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of a Nato-led mission, while Denmark has more than 600 personnel.

OK, so I understand why we went in, toppled the Taliban, and took a quick shot at decapitating Al Qaeda.

What I don't understand is why we're still there.