What kind of insanity thinks Afghanistan will ever be anything other than what it is? The USSR went there and couldn’t tame the place. Their ROE were the ROE of the Soviet Union. And we think our pussified “respecting islam” approach will ever succeed?
We are there now because it’s good for our senior officers and the defense industry.
At one time is wasn’t!
Back in the 1960s it was a “roughing it” vacation spot. It was a particular favorite of European hippies (and some Americans!) because of the easy availability of drugs. You can find pictures on the web verifying that. The saddest part of those pictures are the ones showing the Afghani college students in Kabul, both male & female together! The young women are stylishly (though somewhat modestly) dressed in the latest European fashions. You find similar pictures from Beirut to Cairo to Tunis all show that Islam was if not dying but at least morphing into something civilized. Then Jimmy Carter breathed life back into the dying bacillus with his moronic Iran & Middle Eastern polices.
Interesting to speculate what could have been. It is possible it could come again. It will not by showing weakness or being “understanding”!