Afghanistan - why did we bother?

[Balanbam00]

West, not Israel, to blame for spread of radical Islam
Opinion: A common thread of Sunni and Shi'ite terrorism runs through Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza, but Western progressives are only interested in blaming Israel rather than calling out the true culprits, and now their misguided mindset is spreading all across the U.S.

The residents of the Druze village of Hasbeya in southern Lebanon on Friday blocked the passage of a vehicle loaded with rockets belonging to local fighters from the Hezbollah terrorist organization. They were trying to prevent additional fire at northern Israel after 19 rockets had already been launched, because they realized that they would pay the price for another conflict between the Iranian-backed terrorists and their neighbour to the south.

For Lebanon no longer exists as a state. It is a proxy of Iran and ruled by Hezbollah.

The fact that food is in short supply and that the country is facing starvation matters not because what is important is that the terror group has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles.
Radical Sunni and Shi'ite Islam is the common thread that runs through all those battlefields.
Israel has for decades attempted to impress upon the world the extent of damage and destruction that organizations such as Hezbollah, the Taliban and Hamas have caused.

They also fail to understand that should Israel leave the West Bank, the territory would experience what Afghanistan is going through now. There will be no thriving democracy, no freedom, no independence. Hamas - the local version of the Taliban - will make sure of that. But as the infamous saying goes, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Just as criminal gangs take over slums, Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban and Iran's Shi'ite clerics are taking over parts of the world.
And instead of an international effort to fight those forces of evil, Western progressives are targeting the only nation in the region that has not yet given up the fight.

[Swissclaret]

West, not Israel, to blame for spread of radical Islam
Opinion: A common thread of Sunni and Shi'ite terrorism runs through Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza, but Western progressives are only interested in blaming Israel rather than calling out the true culprits, and now their misguided mindset is spreading all across the U.S.

The residents of the Druze village of Hasbeya in southern Lebanon on Friday blocked the passage of a vehicle loaded with rockets belonging to local fighters from the Hezbollah terrorist organization. They were trying to prevent additional fire at northern Israel after 19 rockets had already been launched, because they realized that they would pay the price for another conflict between the Iranian-backed terrorists and their neighbour to the south.

For Lebanon no longer exists as a state. It is a proxy of Iran and ruled by Hezbollah.

The fact that food is in short supply and that the country is facing starvation matters not because what is important is that the terror group has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles.
Radical Sunni and Shi'ite Islam is the common thread that runs through all those battlefields.
Israel has for decades attempted to impress upon the world the extent of damage and destruction that organizations such as Hezbollah, the Taliban and Hamas have caused.

They also fail to understand that should Israel leave the West Bank, the territory would experience what Afghanistan is going through now. There will be no thriving democracy, no freedom, no independence. Hamas - the local version of the Taliban - will make sure of that. But as the infamous saying goes, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Just as criminal gangs take over slums, Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban and Iran's Shi'ite clerics are taking over parts of the world.
And instead of an international effort to fight those forces of evil, Western progressives are targeting the only nation in the region that has not yet given up the fight.

Well said Balanbam. Fanatics are dangerous people. Iran is only too happy to equip and support these groups. You are either for Islam or you are the infidel. They rule by fear and terror. There is such thing as tolerance for those who are the infidel. Military efforts are expensive and cost lives. Sadly, too often, they are futile as the Taliban will not go away.