pkt on Nostr: No guarantee it was going to collapse, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ...
No guarantee it was going to collapse, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan certainly sped up that process, freeing millions of people from Soviet oppression. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, etc. I'm glad another generation didn't have to grow up under Soviet oppression.
As for Iraq and Afghanistan, the cost of those wars was a product of idiotic leftist thinking. Both countries were easily defeated militarily. The enormous cost was due to the idiotic efforts at rebuilding those countries.
Afghanistan is a particularly nasty example of this. It took just a matter of months to kill off most members of the Taliban. We could have easily just left at that point. Instead we uselessly stuck around to rebuild the country, which ultimately funneled money to our enemies while getting thousands of soldiers killed.
Now consider the alternative history where the USSR succeeded: Afghanistan would be yet another nation plundered for mineral resources, potentially pushing back the fall of the USSR by another 20 years. If ever.
It's also notable that the second Iraq war was a humanitarian success: Iraq is now a democracy, and no longer poses a threat to its neighbors.
As for Iraq and Afghanistan, the cost of those wars was a product of idiotic leftist thinking. Both countries were easily defeated militarily. The enormous cost was due to the idiotic efforts at rebuilding those countries.
Afghanistan is a particularly nasty example of this. It took just a matter of months to kill off most members of the Taliban. We could have easily just left at that point. Instead we uselessly stuck around to rebuild the country, which ultimately funneled money to our enemies while getting thousands of soldiers killed.
Now consider the alternative history where the USSR succeeded: Afghanistan would be yet another nation plundered for mineral resources, potentially pushing back the fall of the USSR by another 20 years. If ever.
It's also notable that the second Iraq war was a humanitarian success: Iraq is now a democracy, and no longer poses a threat to its neighbors.