Like any war that has no obvious reason, I've always been so curious about Afghanistan. Not why it is so hard to conquer but rather why would you WANT to conquer it? It has a meaningless population compared to Pakistan or Iran, it no natural resources that could be hugely impactful- Opium is not that big. So why did the Soviets fight a decade there? for what? Why is the USA fighting there? for what? the single most costly war in US history is about making a landlocked country of 30 million with GDP slightly bigger than North Korea.

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like seriously, is this of those "well they did it so we have to as well" or like am I missing something? Does Afghanistan give some credit that buffs the winner?