A lot of folks used to say that Iraq was the new Vietnam, the war that was gonna break America’s back and leave us once again with egg on our faces. I think the reality is that Afghanistan has become our new Vietnam.

Both started out with good intentions, both ended up becoming little more than babysitting corrupt regimes, both saw our forces doing the bulk of the fighting because the local forces either were incompetent or on the other side’s payroll, both have expanded to surrounding countries, and both saw us crawling away with our tails between our legs.

Somewhere, on the cosmic scoreboard, Afghanistan’s record as the graveyard of civilizations remains solid.