As Biden improves support with vets, Afghanistan plan a plus to some 2 hours ago In this April 15, 2021, photo, President Joe Biden speaks about Russia in the East Room of the White House in Washington.(Andrew Harnik/AP) ELM GROVE, Wis. — Patrick Proctor Brown says the war in Afghanistan was lost within a year of its start. The suburban Milwaukee lawyer, who was an infantry captain in Iraq, said the trillions of dollars spent and the thousands of lives lost, including a lieutenant he trained with, make it “a tragedy.” “And the Taliban will be back in power in a year,” said Brown, 35, who also studied diplomacy at Norwich, a military university in Vermont. “It’s insane.”