@Druvius You do have a point there. I’d say both/and but we are pushing costs onto future generations as it has always been, not paying as we go with higher taxes.

And this war has nothing to do with America's security. But hey, we spent 2 trillion in Afghanistan, literally as unimportant to American security as it gets. When it comes to spending on war nothing is ever too expensive for America. The rest of the developed world gets public education, public transportation, and health care. America gets war porn ... and Americans cheer. Go figure.

@Druvius Afghanistan is more complicated. Brzezinski (Polish American) got us indirectly involved with the mujahideen effort after USSR invaded which Reagan then escalated (no we did not create Bin Laden as there many subfactions including his “Arab Afghans” ). It was Russia’s Vietnam and may have played a role in collapsing the USSR though many want to lionize the Gipper for that.

Granted the US led effort to “liberate” Kuwait from Husayn got in Bin Laden’s craw as he wanted his battle hardened fighters to do that job instead (the House of Saud scoffed). US presence upon the sacred Arabian peninsula was a redline. Maybe they should have given Bin Laden a chance against Husayn and the Republican Guard. How would that have turned out?

Fast forward to 9-11. Granted it may have been preventable in retrospect (so was Vietnam). Vietnam didn’t present a true threat to the US. Al Qaeda did. IMO we had justification to go after them even before the USS Cole attack. Sorry.

We botched that effort in so many ways including getting sucked into the framing of Project for the New American Century neocon desire to topple Husayn and Dubya’s vendetta because Daddy Issues.

Bin Laden was a warranted kill, though he had some grievances such as the Gulf War playing out in his homeland. Our little adventure in Iraq wound up resulting in a power vacuum which coupled with debaathification (is that a word?) and stupidly imprisoning Husayn loyalists with hardcore insurgents helped birth ISIS. The atrocities at Abu Ghraib didn’t help. Iraq was a colossal mistake, but Afghanistan was a warranted reaction to 9-11 though itself poorly executed partly because diverted resources to Iraq.

Plus presence in both Afghanistan and Iraq made Iranians understandably nervous which may have played a role in the ascent of hardliners such as Ahmadinejad when they had been somewhat more moderate previously.

@Scott321 Nothing complicated at all, an utter waste of trillions of dollars. But this is Americas where no matter how badly the government blunders, they get a pass.