The US as its power rose in the World saw its vision of bringing the ideals of democracy to the World, in this quest it has several HUNDRED military bases all over the Globe and where it deems it necessary it will intervene with military force ...

Historically the US is an isolationist Country , the 1st and especially the 2nd World war saw the USA highly reluctant to enter and assist its allies , the American people do not want see their troops fighting other peoples wars be it the Nazis or the Taliban etc 

Korea - Vietnam - Iraq - Afghanistan have seen large military forces spend endless time and ultimately achieve little and as the time dragged on the US Population called for the return of their soldiers .

One of the lessons of war is that unless you are ready to fight with all your power and commit whatever is needed to the battle then don,t go to war at all .

Afghanistan will now become a failed state supported by China and Turkey and Russia and Pakistan and Qatar each with their own axe to grind with the US , the down side of all of this is that the fight will come one day possibly soon to the US as its deterrent power wanes .

History is replete with mighty empires ultimately failing usually from within , the divisions within the US have never been so great and they are growing and weakening the resolve of the people .

The Barbarians will one day be at the gates - be in no doubt 

BM 

bml00 said:

History is replete with mighty empires ultimately failing usually from within , the divisions within the US have never been so great and they are growing and weakening the resolve of the people . The Barbarians will one day be at the gates - be in no doubt 

One day?

Hell, haven't we already seen Barbarians at the gates here in the USA?

Kidnapping children, ripping families apart, and vandalizing humanitarian supplies, amoung other things?

bml00 said:

The US supplied the Taliban with weapons to fight the Russians

We tried to stop it it the time.

But that was 40 years ago. 

In hindsight, it may not have been a wise idea.

There are also a different set of rules with which the two armies are using.

The US is all about positive PR and, essentially, being "the good guys".

The Taliban will drag you from your home and behead you on camera.

It would appear the latter gets results.

War is war and the US can fight as dirty as the next guy if they need to , the problem is that with all nations (my own included) the people have no longer the stomach for such engagements .

We have just had about 8/10 rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon and we returned fire and hit the hillside and disturbed some bushes which has encouraged Hezbollah and its cohorts, the same applies in Gaza , we have enormous power so do the US but there is a political reluctance to use this power as our enemies grow bolder so we grow ever more reluctant to move , as we grow fatter they grow more determined 

BM

bml00 said:

War is war and the US can fight as dirty as the next guy if they need to , the problem is that with all nations (my own included) the people have no longer the stomach for such engagements .

As cultures advance, they sometimes learn from their experiences with war. 

Analysis

www.abc.net.au

The West has been fighting an enemy that will not die

We should have learned these lessons. Anything short of complete and total victory would always be claimed as a win by the Taliban, writes Stan Grant.

Read more from www.abc.net.au

bml00 said:

if Israel left the West Bank , HAMAS like the Taliban would sweep through the area in a day

I think your assessment is correct. The Palestinian Authority is inept and corrupt.