Skeptic Project

The original goal of the invasion of Afghanistan was to destroy the training camps, Al Qaeda's presence there, and ensure it would not become a breeding ground for terrorism again. Naturally, if you just go there, overthrow the government (essentially throw it back to 1996) you won't reach any of those goals. Simply bombing the hell out of a country then taking off doesn't solve most of the problems you set out to fix, which is why the US is paying for doing just that through the 70s and 80s, today.

I don't know, it's just eye-roll educing when people started saying "now that Osama bin Laden is dead, is the US going to leave Afghanistan?" The answer is obviously "no" if you actually understand what the "goal" is, though the goal now seems to be morphing into something incomprehensible.

As for Iraq, whether or not Saddam had anything to do with 9/11 (and he didn't) isn't really relevant now, as the US did overthrow the state there. Again going back to what I said in the first place in regards to Afghanistan, it'd be self-defeating to create just the type of environment that lead to anti-American ideologues in the Middle East in the first place. To leave Iraq after destroying much of the infrastructure there would be retarded, even if the reasons for going were retarded in of themselves.

In short, the idea is to kill them with bullets and kill the rest with kindness, though Americans are just really bad at it.

Shortsightedness doesn't win wars, and it seems western Europeans have forgotten that in the last 70 years or so.

No, I stated also it was to ensure it wouldn't be a breeding ground for terrorism again. Leaving the country in ruin would create that type of environment, just as it did after the we (Russians) left in 1989.

It's not my country, I don't live in the US. Though my country does have its own goals which are essentially unattainable: Chechnya.

Well, countries like Afghanistan have largely corrupt governments and highly under-educated populations, it makes it a breeding ground because people like Osama bin Laden can go there or Sudan for example, build a road, and get a lot of popular support. They can easily hide as the country has little or no state intelligence apparatus, or simply by falling back on the support of the people, paying off corrupt government officials, or having a common ideology with them.

The answer obviously isn't simply bombing them and leaving them like that, but that's basically what you implied in your original post from what I understand of what you wrote. It's a complex problem that will have to be dealt with from many angles, and one of them is dealing with governments that harbor terrorists.

The US still has a lot to learn about fighting guerrillas, which is ironic because they've had several opportunities to learn it already.

Drones, baby. Drones are the key.

I <3 our Predator and Reaper drones.

^And Robots.