Why did the United States defeat Iraq in 42 days and Afghanistan in 20 years? Is there such a big difference in national strength between the two countries?

The United States laid down Iraq in 42 days and Afghanistan in 20 years, which has nothing to do with the national strength gap between the two countries. More realistically, Iraq is much stronger than Afghanistan, both economically and militarily, and so on. However, no matter what the national strength of Iraq and Afghanistan is, in front of the United States, like a mouse to an elephant, it is not the same level at all.

Although an elephant is a monster, it has the strength to crush a mouse with one foot, but it doesn't mean that an elephant can crush every mouse. If you are unlucky, elephants will even be bitten by mice. It's not fatal, but it's definitely uncomfortable. Iraq is a "mouse" that has been crushed, while Afghanistan is a "mouse" that flexibly avoids the "big feet" of the United States and bites many mouths.

What needs to be emphasized here is that although the word "mouse" is used, it does not mean to discriminate against Iraq and Afghanistan. Everything is my problem! I really can't find a better metaphor to illustrate the relationship between the three, so I have to use this not so good and misleading metaphor.

First of all, the national strength of Iraq and Afghanistan is compared with that of the United States. Iraq is under Saddam's rule and Afghanistan is under Taliban's rule. When comparing the national strength of these two countries, we will take these two periods as the standard and will not pay attention to other periods. Generally speaking, Iraq under Saddam Hussein is much stronger than Afghanistan under the Taliban.

During Saddam Hussein's reign, Iraq was called the fourth in the world militarily. At its peak, its military strength reached 6.5438+0.2 million, hitting Iran and Kuwait. Among them, when fighting Kuwait, 540,000 troops were invested, and thousands of armored vehicles, artillery and tanks occupied the whole territory of Kuwait in just one day. If the United States and a group of younger brothers had not intervened quickly, Kuwait would not have existed long ago.

As for Afghanistan during the Taliban period, it is nothing compared with Iraq. When the Taliban started, there were only 800 people, poor and white. Later, it grew to 30 thousand people, hundreds of tanks and dozens of planes. After the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan's military strength has further developed, but it is still too weak compared with Iraq.

Economically, Taliban Afghanistan is still no match for Saddam's Iraq. Iraq was an economic power in the Middle East at that time, with inexhaustible oil. Taliban Afghanistan is poor, its economy is in a mess, and its people are struggling. Their only stable income is actually growing illegal crops.

Second, the reason why the United States defeated Iraq in 42 days and failed to defeat Afghanistan in 20 years should be Iraq, not Afghanistan, according to the analysis of national strength. But the truth is, a weak Afghanistan is more important. No matter what the United States does, Afghanistan is like a cockroach that can't be killed, and it can always come out to disgust the American army. Today, the United States even wants to withdraw its troops.

The reason for this is that there are many other factors that affect and restrict the war besides the comparison of national strength, so that powerful countries can't do whatever they want. Below, I will give you a concrete analysis of the reasons why the United States has defeated Iraq in 42 days and Afghanistan in 20 years.

1.0? The complex terrain in Afghanistan offsets the advantages of the US military, which is definitely the advanced nature of weapons, which is also the main reason why the US military is invincible on the battlefield. Once the U.S. military loses this greatest advantage, it will be no different from the armies of other countries, even three points weaker. At that time, the US military was able to quickly capture Iraq, mainly relying on the advanced nature of weapons.

However, the advanced nature of American weapons cannot be brought into play in Afghanistan in many cases. Unlike most of Iraq, which belongs to plains, 80% of Afghanistan's land area belongs to mountains and plateaus. The high altitude, rugged mountains and winding roads make it impossible for the advanced weapons of the United States to be used, and the fundamental heroes are useless. Afghanistan has enough space and time to fight guerrilla warfare slowly with the US military.

2.0? Relatively speaking, Afghans are more United than Iraqis. When the United States attacked Iraq, Iraq was like a piece of sand. At that time, many Iraqis hoped that Saddam's regime would fall at an early date. What is more serious is that the Iraqi army, even its officers, were turned against by American agents and the army defected. Fighting, at this point, is doomed to failure.

Afghanistan is much better than Iraq in this respect, and they are more United. The Taliban armed forces, probably because of their beliefs, are very United and fight bravely. As for civilians, there are many civilians who support the Taliban. Most of the time, they will provide logistical support to the Taliban and even directly attack the US military to resist American aggression.

3.0? The younger brother is not strong enough, and the American army is quite helpless. The so-called younger brother is not strong enough, which refers to the ruling regime supported by the US military. After the United States laid down Iraq, it quickly supported the new regime and then ruled Iraq. Probably because Saddam Hussein's armed forces were wiped out too cleanly, the new Iraqi regime soon took control of the whole situation in Iraq.

Although the United States also supports the new regime in Afghanistan, the situation is completely different from that in Iraq. The reason why the United States can't beat Afghanistan in 20 years has a lot to do with the fact that the new regime can't control the situation. However, this has a lot to do with the US military. Because, after all, the U.S. military can't wipe out the Taliban as it did when it attacked Iraq, and give the Taliban a chance to be strong again.