No US troops necessary. The Afghans outlasted the Russians without a single GI going into combat. We sent food and equipment and the Afghans did the rest.
And that really worked out well. The Taliban took over and al Qaaadea was born.
The original al Qaeda was born the day Muhammad conquered Arabia and sent his victorious armies across North Africa, Persia and Central Asia, extinguishing Christian, Zoroastrian and Buddhist communities in its wake. Its revival sprang from Sayyid Qutb's observations after a visit to America in the late 1940's, from which the modern al Qaeda drew its inspiration:
Even if you assign blame from the revival of al Qaeda to our support for the Afghan mujihideen, it was a worthwhile price, given that the war demoralized the Russians and sped up the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. Note that we sent huge amounts of material aid to the Soviets during WWII, which they repaid by helping to kill 100K GI's during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. But it was worthwhile helping the Russians kill the Nazis despite the price we would later pay at the hands of the Russians via their aid to Korean and Vietnamese Communists, just as it was worthwhile helping the Afghans kill the Russians despite the rise of a faction (the Taliban) that later aided al Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks. The bottom line in international strategy is that you fight one enemy at a time, you ally with lesser enemies to fight the bigger ones. The broader principle was described by Lord Palmerston, vis-a-vis British foreign policy:The turning point in Qutb's views resulted from his visit to the United States, where he aimed for further studies in educational administration. Over a two-year period, he worked in several different institutions including what was then Wilson Teachers' College in Washington, D.C., Colorado State College for Education in Greeley, as well as Stanford University.[22] He also traveled extensively, visiting the major cities of the United States and spent time in Europe on the return journey to Egypt.
On his return to Egypt, Qutb published an article entitled "The America that I Have Seen." He was critical of many things he had observed in the United States: its materialism, individual freedoms, economic system, racism, brutal boxing matches, "poor" haircuts,[4] superficiality in conversations and friendships,[23] restrictions on divorce, enthusiasm for sports, lack of artistic feeling,[23] "animal-like" mixing of the sexes (which "went on even in churches"),[24] and strong support for the new Israeli state.[25] Hisham Sabrin, noted that:
As a brown person in Greeley, Colorado in the late 40s, studying English he came across much prejudice. He also felt quite appalled by what he perceived as loose sexual openness of American men and women (a far cry by any measure, from Musha, Asyut where he grew up). But, in fact this American experience was not truly a crisis for Qutb, but rather a moment of choice and fine-tuning of his already Islamic identity. He himself tells us on his boat trip over “Should I travel to America, and become flimsy, and ordinary, like those who are satisfied with idle talk and sleep. Or should I distinguish myself with values and spirit. Is there other than Islam that I should be steadfast to in its character and hold on to its instructions, in this life amidst deviant chaos, and the endless means of satisfying animalistic desires, pleasures, and awful sins? I wanted to be the latter man.”.
Qutb noted with disapproval the sexuality of American women:
the American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs—and she shows all this and does not hide it.[4]
He also commented on the American taste in arts:
The American is primitive in his artistic taste, both in what he enjoys as art and in his own artistic works. “Jazz” music is his music of choice. This is that music that the Negroes invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, as well as their desire to be noisy on the one hand and to excite bestial tendencies on the other. The American’s intoxication in “jazz” music does not reach its full completion until the music is accompanied by singing that is just as coarse and obnoxious as the music itself. Meanwhile, the noise of the instruments and the voices mounts, and it rings in the ears to an unbearable degree… The agitation of the multitude increases, and the voices of approval mount, and their palms ring out in vehement, continuous applause that all but deafens the ears.[23]
I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow...Russia's policy is one of unreconstructed imperialism, which seems strange in a country that has about twice the land area of the second largest country in the world (Canada), but it remains unchanged from the Tsarist or Bolshevik eras. It is in America's interest to keep Russia from becoming any bigger, for the same reason as the Brits sought to ward them off during the Great Game - to prevent them from gradually becoming too powerful to resist in their future land grabs.