Afganistan will never be taken by force... Not with all of Islam ready to join the fight...
Most Americans simply do not know how related all these places are...the driving distance between Kabul and Islamabad is very short...just a short hop over the Khyber Pass...and the drive onward to Delhi is not far ...
Afghanistan's Pashtuns flow over the border into Pakistan...its all part of their ancient homeland...
Even Islamabad is a man make construct...there was no Islamabad until the 1960's when the city was planned as the new capital of Pakistan... Karachi being too far away from the key "silk road" a/k/a Grand Trunk into the strategic Khyber Pass...and apparently Lahore being too close to the Indian Border...
And all of this was part of the British Raj in India which was started in the 1600's...about the same time as the Pilgrims landed in America...!
Then there were the two British Wars to take Afghanistan in the 19th Century...during their "great game" with Russia in Central Asia...
To control Afghanistan...the Americans would have to control Pakistan first...only then would the flow of fighters be controlled to resist the occupation of Ancient Pashtun Land...
