"what if we just pull out?"

This question is not from a recent headline about the United States involvement in Afghanistan or Iraq.. Its from an October 1969 issue of Time magazine regarding the Viet Nam War. Our policy was that of "Vietnamization"- the turning Viet Nam over to the Vietnamese. Vietnamisation was our military and political goal. This was the apparent goal of a failed policy which included the adding of more and more troops to stabilize the region. Too much was never enough.The unfair burden of serving in the war was on the backs of those who were not able to evade the draft like Chaney,Bush and Rumsfeld. Victory was ill defined.(Similar to"Mission Accomplished-as President Bush declared). Talk of 'the light at the end of the tunnel-was spoken about for years-while the light was actually another train comining in the opposite direction. There was a history of corruption in South Viet Nam. Drug trafficking was fairly common as well. Substitute the name Afghanistan and the comparisons are frightening. Substitute "French troops" for US troops in Viet Nam. Substitute Russian troops for US troops in Afghanistan-again the repeat of history is frightening.
How do you stabilize countries that have no history of a central zed government? At some point we are going to have to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. At least I hope so. I hope that President Obama means what he says about withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan fairly soon yet not changing his mind about extending deadlines due to "military conditions on the ground".
How do you withdraw from a country militarily? Just what do you leave behind? How is this done in some kind of orderly manner? How is there anything orderly about war? I remember the chaos of the fall of Saigon and the scenes of desperation of people trying to flee as the North Vietnamese overran the city. I also remember someone asking "how would you like to be the parent of the last soldier who was killed in Viet Nam?" We ask the same question about Iraq and Afghanistan. As noted by the great historian Howard Zinn in war often "people don't give their lives for their country, its taken away". When the question is asked "did the person die in vain?" The answer unfortunately is "yes". What if we just pull out?