I think the difference between us and the Chinese in Afghanistan is we fought the nutters/Pakistan-powered Taliban, but China will ally WITH them.
The Chinese are already allied with Pakistan due to India.
So the Taliban won’t fight the Chinese and the Chinese won’t give a hoot when the Taliban stones women, beheads Christians or throws gays off of rooftops.
You could say they’re made for each other.
Should we have not taken on the Barbary pirates? It was Europe’s problem. Did we need to protect our merchants?