Well I got a few things wrong in this first post. It is good to belong to a group and learn from it. I my previous post I conflated two ideas; that no one since Alexander had conquered Afghanistan, and Afghanistan has never had a strong central government. Both of these ideas have come to me through the popular media, and now I think that both of them are wrong.
From Wikipedia (again I am relying on popular media) I have learned that these people and this geography have had a long history of development and conflict, that the modern state has its basis in a 1740’s monarchy, and they fought English domination from 1839 until 1919 when it reclaimed its independence. It remained independent and neutral through much of the USA and the USSR cold war.
In 1973 a coup overturned the monarchy and attempted to bring Afghanistan into the modern (Western) world. I think it is fair to say that whatever democratic ideals this effort aspired to, Afghanistan became a victim of the USA and the USSR conflict.
For the sake of the Afghanis it is time for the people of the USA to take back our militaristic government and let the Afghanis decide their own destiny.
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