America is fascinated with unconditional surrender in warfare as the only proper way to end a conflict. However, “Unconditional Surrender” Grant is better known today for the graciousness with which he accepted Lee’s surrender and ended a bloody civil war, telling his troops, “The Confederates were now our countrymen, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.” The Chinese, with centuries of experience in civil war, would have recognized the benefits of accepting co-existence with the Taliban long before they were forced to deal with them as the only alternative after the collapse of Afghanistan’s central government and security forces. We should learn from China’s experience in this part of the world and make peace with the overthrow of Kabul in November 2001. Twenty years, two trillion dollars, and 172,390 deaths later, here we are struggling to come to grips with who lost Afghanistan: Bush, Obama, Trump, or Biden. America lost, and we need to learn from it. War with Chinese characteristics faces off with American war theory in Fatal Move, with lessons to learn for future conflicts.