Lol. You forgot about all of the Opium in Afghanistan. There's a reason countries repetitively try to take it over. It's a very mountainous region, and most opium can only grow in certain elevations(making the mountains PERFECT).
By controlling Afghanistan, and allying with the Opium Growers, you basically get control of TONS of income, which can then be spent paying mercenary armies(like ISIS, to Invade Syria).
As long as the USA continues to sell the Hill Tribes in Afghanistans' opium, they will retain the ability to create massive mercenary armies throughout the middle east. The best part is... the CIA doesn't need to ask the US congress, or tell the US people anything about these secret wars. That's because they use their OWN money, from helping to sell Opium/Heroin on a global scale.
This isn't the first time the CIA has allied with mountainout hill tribes, and helped them sell/move/protect the drug trade, in order to hire mercenaries.
Reagan did it back in Iran Contra, and with the Mujahadeen. And it happened in Southeast Asia extensively, first with the French, then with the Americans(Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, etc), which eventually broke out into the Vietnam war.
Americans, and Global Citizens in general are SO VERY under-informed about the realities of Afghanistan... one of the biggest opium producers in the world(which is the key ingredient to Heroin... which just happens to be cheap AF in America... supply and demand).
There is no way to unite all of the individual war lords, that have existed in the region for decades/hundreds of years. The easiest way is to offer to protect/ship their opium/heroin... and then you gain their allegiance(and make them more economically able to build an army to fight for your cause).
So, peace in Afghanistan is a very complex process... that hinges on the American Heroin epidemic. The more Heroin sold in AMerica... the more likely America can gain control in Afghanistan. As long as the CIA keeps moving illicit Opium out of Afghanistan to maintain control over the warlords/hill tribes... there will be a Heroin epidemic in America.
Afghanistan is just a permanent military base for America... as is Iraq. If they wanted to get rid of their reason for staying(opposition), they could have done it years ago. Instead, they LIKE a little conflict, because it gives them cover for staying in the ME.
Gotta remember, Bush when he invaded stressed THIS ISN'T AN INVASION. He assured everyone USA was going to withdrawal after a year or two. Now, almost 20 years later... it seems obvious the plan was NEVER to withdrawal, and that the plan was to hunker down in Iraq/Syria, and use them as forward bases of operation in the proxy wars against Iran/Russia.