Was the war in Afghanistan lost when it turned into a woke crusade?

As someone who was in the military during this time period, I feel very qualfied to answer this question. The war in Afghanistan was about weakening the foothold of regimes like the taliban who actively funded terrorist cells like Al-Qaeda. The secondary purpose was community building. The idea was get the Taliban out of power then install a stable democratic-republic within the region. It then became the job of the military to provide aide in setting up this government within the region. That included, hosting civilian job fairs, providing security for special elections, and assisting with construction projects. Aka "winning hearts and minds".
Where we messed up was when we started acting like a police force for Afghanistan. America's only interest in the region was originally to get rid of terrorists who may pose a danger to the people of America. We should have went in, captured or killed key players in the Taliban and Al-Queda and got out. Instead we became enablers and allowed that nation to become dependent on us for protection from these people. At the same time, these terrorists were embedded in the community to the point where you have no idea who is on your side and who isnt. So bottom line, instead of protecting our own interests we went in and made a mess of things, weren't really sure how to clean it up, then spent the next decade trying to save face.