Catching up:

On Afghanistan: The Taliban have to keep the toilets flushing in downtown Kabul and they have to keep the cash flow going to those warlords in rural regions who got used to Westerners giving out good bribes and supplies for 20 years. Good luck with the iron fist approach

On electric guitars: for garage level jamming loud enough to annoy your tract home neighborhood I strongly recommend the Boss Katana Mini. It’s so light and small and was like 100$ and has enough settings and knobs to adjust the sound to your liking. I also use garage band amps through my mixer plug in to iPad and have a mini studio that exceeds my requirements It may suck nowadays to try and cash a check as a musician but for the amateur hobbyist it’s actually sort of a golden age

On cattle dogs: see photo