If we had to do it again?
We don’t. And we shouldn’t.
But it could already be too late to undo the mess that we got ourselves in starting with the so-called Persian Gulf War of Bush the Elder.
You are correct that officially Afghanistan is not considered the ME...but you get my drift.
We had to respond to 9/11. As much as I disagree with Bush the elder, perhaps the only thing I agree with was him being it after 100 days. Not 20 years.