Our generals failed in Afghanistan

They meant well, you can't please everybody. There were many failures in all conflicts, as well as many successes. We tend to focus on the failures. Successes are not newsworthy. Americans need bad news, dirty laundry, public disgrace, pain and suffering of others, Kardashians and other train-wreck reality TV.

And as I said before on the Military Problem Solving Process.....

Step 1: Assign Blame!

Thank you for the note worthy read.

I have never been to Afghanistan, but I am a big fan of military history. My comments are purely academic and maybe completely incorrect. I welcome civil critiques.

Just because borders have been drawn, does not mean the people within a country (i.e. Afghanistan) feel that they are Afghanis. They may self identify and have primary loyalty to Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri or some others ethnic group; and little or no national loyalty. One of the lessons the Brits took away from "The Great Game" of the 19th Century battle with Russia over Afghanistan and surrounding regions was; you cannot "herd cats".

I believe the lesson still applies. But, I am not sure that lesson was fully understood or artfully applied in the Afghan war. It may be such a complex situation that it is beyond artful application. It is easy for Iran to unite the Afghani tribes against a common foe, us. It might be an entirely different picture if they have to ride the wild tiger and we are the ones sowing the seeds of unrest.