Is the Taliban worth fighting?

Most Americans, and indeed most American policy-makers, take for granted that preventing the Taliban from gaining control of Af-Pak is essential for American security. Not so says John Mueller in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. The Taliban itself have limited interests outside their own region and are unlikely to provide a base for Al Qaeda in the near future given what happened last time. Mueller argues that preventing the Taliban from reestablishing control in Afghanistan may not actually be worth the fight, and that it actually isn't a requirement for American security.

While he's probably right about the Taliban not being particularly interested in external conflict the situation in Pakistan is such that we can't simply ignore Afghanistan. Policy-wise the US must deal with both of them so to argue that the US should get out of Afghanistan is ultimately not particularly useful unless one can figure out how to fix Pakistan.