Afghanistan isn't Korea, on any level.

The Soviets at their peak had over 70000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. was lucky to have 16000.

I'm not sure why you believe an army of 16000 troops could reign in Afghanistan yet an army of 70000 couldn't.

And no we did do the job. Our job initially was to root out Al Quaeda that had been training in eastern Afghanistan and in waziristan. We did that quickly. And instead of calling it a day, we turned the Taliban, the Mujahadeen, the Pashtuns, the kuchi, and every other small tribe there against us because politicians decided that we should export some democracy there instead of just eliminate the bad guys.

You fail to accept that life isn't fair there, or a lot of places around the world. These are cultural issues, not military ones. We cannot solve these problems with the fist, although you guys feeling the bern must surely try.

Well you can solve them with the fist actually, but are you really willing to do that? You'd literally need to wipe them all out thanos style, and then import new ppl there and refer to them as Afghanis. That's a bridge to far for me I'm afraid.

And if the people want self rule, they Will take it. No one there needs a hand holding, especially for the countrymen who has essentially defeated both the Soviets and NATO allies.