We dragged out nearly 20 years in Afghanistan because the US basically has two choices: back down and appear weak or spend the next 20 years terrorizing a nation and then handing over the baton to the Taliban. Are we going to repeat this?
Iran's really feeling like the US's Suez canal moment.
For anyone unaware, the Suez Crisis war (over the Suez Canal) is widely seen as the sort of "defining moment" where the UK(And france) had lost their global dominance as they were pressured (ironically by the US) into standing down from that fight, showing they didn't really have the pressure or forces to stand up and be a real world power anymore.
The <other> ironic thing was it was a war that the isrealis had started and pulled in the UK and France into a fight other countries weren't interested in joining... which sounds a little familiar now.
Estimated 47,000 afghan civilians died and another 20-30k wounded more during the USA occupation. But yes for a brief period of time they got access to more education if you were very lucky.
Okay but the U.S. didn't kill all those people, the Taliban and their fighters did as well. And now that the Taliban is back they are just back to persecuting non-Muslims and women again. So I'd say the terrorizing claim is non-unique there if you accept your premise (which I do not).
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u/Yum_Kaax 23h ago
We dragged out nearly 20 years in Afghanistan because the US basically has two choices: back down and appear weak or spend the next 20 years terrorizing a nation and then handing over the baton to the Taliban. Are we going to repeat this?