The removal of Saddam in Iraq & the Taleban gov’t in Afghanistan were very successful. It needed doing, & it got done. It is this dopey idea of nation building that has utterly failed, & will continue to fail even if we keep it up 1000 years.
islam is completely incompatible with democracy & the rule of law. There is not one democratic muslim country. The rule of law & equal protection under the law are nonexistent in predominately muslim countries, which are primarily characterized by corruption, tyranny, violence, poverty, & ignorance.
It is a waste of blood & money to try to “civilize” these people. They are beyond redemption. It is certainly NOT in our national interest IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY to continue this waste. And it is beyond stupid to train their military & provide them weapons.
If we need to maintain bases in Iraq & Afghanistan to kill & defeat our enemies, I am fine with that. But we don't OWE Iraq or Afghanistan anything more than we gave them years ago: Freedom from a tyrannical gov’t. Let's take the money being wasted proping up Karzai & the Iraqi Gov't & spend it on killing al-Queda & destroying the Iranian nuke facilities. This is a far more worthy use of our money & military.
I think we are pretty much on the same page.