There you go again; never said we’d do any liberating that is for the citizens to decide themselves. If China goes to war because of their authoritarian leader, the system may unravel & highly likely not be supported by their public. War won’t fix their real estate Ponzi scheme that collapsed ruining a lot of people’s retirement plans.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses and see past propaganda. You don’t know anything about China and their happiness. We are seeing discontent among the working age youth (they stopped publishing stats on it), and they have had plenty of protest squashed. It’s not all bubbly (nor is it the worst possible thing). To be honest we can’t know because authoritarians despise transparency. They are just happy for rubes like you.

Afghanistan was a NATO Article V in response to 9/11. The guys that supported networks like Osma Bin Laden’s & terrorist like him are long gone. NATO reformed the mission in 2015 with the goal of developing an independent, self-sustaining force capable of combating both internal and external threats. It wasn’t the preferred government forces that would be duly elected & accountable to the citizens but hey they got there in a way. Now they can have water wars with Iran, get in scuffles with Pakistan, decide if they want a Chinese highway cutting through remote territory, and fight ISIS-K all on their own. The kids grow up quick and get to go their own path like Iraq.

We exited a war with a more different version of our 2015 goals but we it wasn’t some combat loss you are thinking of. They are fighting terrorism & standing up for themselves as a nation, not for sure how long but it got there. If I see some ballerinas playing on public TV, maybe I’ll change my mind. I just like enjoying my life free from the taste of boot in my mouth and wish the Afghans could have enjoyed that too. But feel free to lick those boots if you want to.