TLDR Trump loosed the dogs of war, screwed the pooch, and now gets to eat a dogshit sandwich. He won on day one and lost everything. Iran's regime literally changed — new Supreme Leader, wartime mandate, unified population — and the US is still bombing...
Hearts and minds were not won, in either case. There is a good question whether the nationbuilding could even theoretically have succeeded, given how tribal and divided the countries were. IMO it was stupid to try in the first place, especially in Afghanistan.
We keep entering conflicts with no clear objective because our leadership lies about our reasons for entering the conflict. In both cases we had no hard evidence they were even continuing development of nuclear weapons.
We defeated their military and occupied their countries, but winning implies completing an objective successfully. When we exited Afghanistan the Taliban instantly took control. They completed their objective, they won the war.
The wars were won in both cases. Decisively.
Hearts and minds were not won, in either case. There is a good question whether the nationbuilding could even theoretically have succeeded, given how tribal and divided the countries were. IMO it was stupid to try in the first place, especially in Afghanistan.
We keep entering conflicts with no clear objective because our leadership lies about our reasons for entering the conflict. In both cases we had no hard evidence they were even continuing development of nuclear weapons.
We defeated their military and occupied their countries, but winning implies completing an objective successfully. When we exited Afghanistan the Taliban instantly took control. They completed their objective, they won the war.