I completely agree with you.
Massive troop levels from the beginning may have gone differently, but it is impossible to say it would have been better.
In an insurgency, more boots on streetcorners means more targets and more dead.
Even if it was shorter... But at double or triple the cost in lives... Would that have been “better”?
The Russians went into Afghanistan with massive force, but it did not win the war for them. Our strategy, while imperfect, was probably the best way to accomplish our goals there.