Sun Tzu once said: "Attacking the heart is the supreme thing," and the United States is good at using the will of the people and the strength of the Iraqi opposition to quickly occupy Iraq.

The fact that the United States was able to defeat Iraq in 42 days mainly refers to the fact that on 2 August 1990, the United Nations-led multinational coalition launched a local war against Iraq. The war lasted for 42 days and was devastating to Iraq.

Why did the United States defeat Iraq in 42 days and Afghanistan in 20 years?

The United States launched the Iraq War, and the actual war lasted only 26 days, and after that, it took seven years before it basically withdrew from Iraq. But when the United States attacked Afghanistan, it took 20 years. It can also be seen from the recent desertion of the US military that the US military did not conquer Afghanistan, but on the contrary, it can be called a great failure.

There are three main factors in this:

First, the topography of Afghanistan is more convenient for guerrilla warfare than that of Iraq, and the Taliban can fight guerrilla warfare with the US military and NATO;

Afghanistan, located at the intersection of Central Asia and West Asia, covers an area of 647,000 square kilometers, which is larger than that of Iraq, but the terrain in Afghanistan is basically dominated by mountains and plateaus, which account for four-fifths of the total area of the country.

Limiting factors such as rugged mountainous terrain, uneven roads, and high altitude determined that the war in Afghanistan was not suitable for large-scale mechanized armed operations. Therefore, when the US NATO forces launched the war in Afghanistan, they did not put hundreds of thousands of ground troops into Afghanistan, and the whole process was dominated by air strikes.

For example, the three key battles of the Afghan war, the Mazar-i-Sharif battle, the Kunduz battle, and the Kandahar battle, were all based on air strikes, relying on the anti-Tajikistan coalition of ground forces to search and strike, and then investing a small number of marines with very strong individual combat capability at key locations, and ordinary US Army units did not dare to push flat from the ground.

First, the US military's tanks, armored vehicles, and other mechanized equipment cannot exert effective combat effectiveness in the terrain of plateaus and mountains; second, the clothing of Taliban fighters is not much different from that of ordinary Afghans.

In this way, the Afghan Taliban forces relied on their favorable terrain combat superiority, reduced their combat units, and fought guerrilla warfare with US troops, firing one shot in the east and one shot in the west, so that the US military could not understand the intentions of the Taliban forces at all, and naturally it was impossible to concentrate superior forces to eliminate the Taliban forces.

Iraq is basically a plain area, with low-lying terrain and a small number of deserts, mountains and other terrain, but the vast majority of the area is less than 100 meters above sea level, which is suitable for the American mechanized corps to fight. Therefore, when the United States launched the Iraq War, it directly invested more than 100,000 troops into Iraq, and the mechanized troops, with the support of air forces, could successfully complete the occupation.

Second, the Taliban in Afghanistan can unite together, but Iraq is scattered;

When the Taliban established power in Afghanistan in 1996, they relied on strict discipline to restrain the armed forces and showed great unity.

In addition to the unity of the Taliban armed themselves, he has many civilian supporters. When the Taliban first emerged, it won the support of Afghan civilians by putting forward ideas such as eliminating warlords, revitalizing Afghanistan, and restoring commerce. For example, Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in northern Afghanistan, and Kunduz, an important city in the north, are all stronghold camps of the Taliban, which have been operating for many years, and Afghan civilians living here support the Taliban.

For example, during the fierce fighting in Kunduz, an important town in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban forces built a relatively strong defensive fortress relying on the buildings in the city, and the local Afghan civilians provided logistical support to them to counter the aggression of the US military and inflict heavy losses on the anti-Taliban coalition supported by the US military.

In stark contrast to the unity of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Iraqi government forces of Saddam Hussein are like a plate of scattered sand, not only have the Iraqi government forces been instigated to rebel and the army has defected, but even the Iraqi civilians hope that Saddam Hussein will fall as soon as possible.

On the eve of the US military raid, he bribed the senior officers of the Iraqi army and joined the opposition camp with tens of thousands of troops.

Therefore, when Iraq is full of internal contradictions, it is easy to crush Iraq with the impact of powerful firepower from the outside world, and this is an important factor in the instant collapse of Saddam's million-strong army in the face of a powerful attack by the United States and other coalition forces.

Third: the new regime established by the United States after the overthrow of the Taliban regime is too weak to confront the Taliban forces;

After the U.S. overthrew the Taliban regime, the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, with the support of the U.S. military, quickly formed an interim government to rule the whole of Afghanistan, but the process was not easy. Because the U.S. military did not completely crush the Taliban, but only drove them to remote mountainous areas.

Given that the U.S. military is incapable of eliminating all Taliban forces, this leaves the Taliban with a chance to retaliate. It is easy for Taliban fighters to strike back in the capital, Kabul, or at a U.S. military base, and the Taliban still control more than 15 percent of Afghanistan.

It was precisely because the ruling class in the United States saw the weak combat effectiveness of the Afghan government forces and the reality that they could not eliminate the Taliban that they decided to leave Afghanistan and become the boss.

If the Afghan government army is strong enough, it will not be helpless against the Taliban with military support and military training from the US military. Look at the current Iraqi government forces, which are in complete control of the whole situation, where there is still a place for pro-Saddam forces.

Therefore, it can be seen from the above that in addition to the terrain obstacles, the US military's delay in taking Afghanistan is also due to the superiority of the Afghan Taliban and its ability to maneuver with the US military.

Afghanistan is in the hinterland of Central Asia, the terrain is complex and mountainous, it is not suitable for the mechanized mobility of large corps, the people are fierce, and it has rich experience in guerrilla warfare; it has fought in the Soviet Union for more than 10 years, and the Soviet army has lost its troops and lost its generals, and has not gained any benefits, and has returned home with wings and wings, and has become the graveyard of empires! The United States has come from afar, the supply lines are too long, the financial, material, and human costs are too great, and it cannot be resolved quickly, and even the superpowers cannot afford to spend it, and the Americans have fought a wrong war at the wrong time and in the wrong place, and the gains outweigh the losses.

In a country like Afghanistan, it would be too expensive to take full control. Therefore, what the Americans are doing now is to control the gentle terrain in the south, ensure the smooth flow of traffic, and support pro-American local governments to suppress the Taliban. At the same time, it hinders other great powers from exerting influence here. Its main purpose has been achieved, so it does not seek complete control of the occupation.