1) The British and Russians learned that you cannot conquer Afghanistan,
2) that we were not prepared for General Winter, and
3) if we had any chance of success we would need forces on par with Desert Storm, or greater.
Hmmmmmm. We went in with only a fraction of the force, we used new tactics mixing sophisticated weapons with warriors on horseback and we formed an alliance and didn't try to conquer.
Think of how this operation started: with that Muslim-American a-hole Sgt. from the 101st lobbing those grenades into the commanders tents in Kuwait. He murdered one officer and injured a dozen others. Fratercide to start the campaign. That was March 22nd, 2003.
I wasn't here, but I'll bet there was clamoring here for us to just retreat and Nuke the entire region then and there.
It's absurd the levels of ignorance and deceit some people harbor.