A national army is useless if it is not supported by an actual government and long standing social and political institutions.
Afghanistan is still a tribal based society and that is where people’s allegiances lie.
Going into Afghanistan and expecting decades/centuries of political, cultural and social development to be imposed from outside in a few years (in a society that has been hostile to outsiders since the time of Alexander the Great…) was a fools game from the outset.
The USA invaded the region with zero plans for what to do once they had won, same with Iraq.
What is going on there now is a tragedy but expecting anything else to come out of the US occupation is farcical.
A national army is useless if it is not supported by an actual government and long standing social and political institutions.
Afghanistan is still a tribal based society and that is where people’s allegiances lie.
Going into Afghanistan and expecting decades/centuries of political, cultural and social development to be imposed from outside in a few years (in a society that has been hostile to outsiders since the time of Alexander the Great…) was a fools game from the outset.
The USA invaded the region with zero plans for what to do once they had won, same with Iraq.
What is going on there now is a tragedy but expecting anything else to come out of the US occupation is farcical.