Afghanistan is not big and not strong, but countless great powers have tried to conquer it, including Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and many more, but in the end they have not succeeded. Especially the United States.
Why is Afghanistan so small, but no big country can conquer it?
Afghanistan was known as the "grave of great powers", and the British Empire, the Soviet Union, the United States, and other three of the most powerful countries in the world at that time all lost their halberds in Afghanistan, which shows that the title of Afghanistan's "grave of great powers" is not in vain. There are four main reasons why such powerful countries have failed in government Afghanistan:
The first is the competition of interests under the great power game
Geographically, Afghanistan is the only country in the world that can be called a country in Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. In other words, Afghanistan is at the crossroads of Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia, and controlling Afghanistan is equivalent to controlling half of Asia. Therefore, Afghanistan has always been a battleground for soldiers. Therefore, the three most powerful countries in the world at that time, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, all chose to invade Afghanistan in order to achieve the goal of controlling Asia. However, precisely because of the important geographical location of Afghanistan, when a big country invades Afghanistan, another big country will inevitably try its best to oppose it, when the Soviet Union invaded, the United States made trouble behind, when the United States invaded, Russia made trouble behind the back, and the big powers competed with each other, resulting in the Afghan rebels are very rampant, and the background is very strong, and the weapons and financial resources are endless, which is also an important reason why Afghanistan cannot be conquered forever.
The second is the topographical decision of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a mountainous country, with mountains like forests and mountains, and it is not an exaggeration to say that there are 100,000 mountains. This terrain has always been a hiding place for bandits, and in modern times it has been used by rebels and terrorists. This kind of terrain is not at all suitable for large-scale mechanized warfare, on the contrary, it is very suitable for guerrilla warfare. Therefore, the rebels and terrorists relied on their familiarity with the geographical environment and the tactics they used by the old Chinese people, the enemy advanced and retreated, and the enemy retreated and disturbed, repeatedly shooting black guns in the back, and finally being consumed to death.
Afghanistan is suitable for guerrilla warfare, and there is also a tradition of guerrilla warfare: Afghanistan is poor and backward, coupled with the fact that it is surrounded by mountainous tribes and has been repeatedly invaded in history, which has cultivated the tradition of guerrilla warfare among Afghans. Comparatively speaking, no matter what country or civilization they live in, the poor are always more able to endure hardships and have a more fighting spirit than the rich, because they are so poor that they have only one life left and can only fight hard. Therefore, compared with the empire that invaded Afghanistan, the Afghan people are obviously more able to endure hardships, endure all kinds of harsh environments, and endure the brilliance of war. Many people only saw the defeat of the three empires of Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, but few people paid attention to how many lives the Afghan people paid for it. This is the sorrow and helplessness of a weak country and a backward nation.
The third is the determination of Afghanistan's economic status
Afghanistan is a very amazing country, all around it, every country is rich in oil, and Afghanistan alone produces nothing, and people say that Afghanistan is a country forgotten by God. Afghanistan is very poor economically, so Afghans have never been afraid of being poorer than poor. As the saying goes, those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes, I am already poor like this, what am I afraid of, come here, hurt each other, we are not afraid. Therefore, fighting Afghanistan, Afghanistan is dragging you from rich to poor, from poor to dead. I'm not afraid to spend it with you, see who can consume whom. Usually in the next few years, the enemy will be frightened and choose to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Fourth, the experience of the Afghans is determined
It has been almost a century since the 60s of the last century. Afghanistan has not enjoyed a single day of peace. All Afghans under the age of 80 are now living in the midst of war. It can be said that some rebels and terrorists have been fighting all their lives, and they have seen all kinds of bloody scenes, so they have more experience and more diverse combat methods when they start fighting.
To sum up, due to its special geographical location, Afghanistan is often in the whirlpool of world politics, or has become the target of regional political and economic competition, and has tried to be used by major powers to compete for hegemony. As soon as there is any disturbance in the surrounding areas of Afghanistan, various relevant forces will set their eyes on Afghanistan, making it the main battlefield for various countries to compete.
At the same time, the quagmire of Afghanistan is difficult for all those caught in it to extricate themselves. From the disastrous defeat of the wars launched by Britain against Afghanistan to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, Afghanistan not only put the Soviet Union in an unsustainable predicament, but also became the driving force behind the collapse of the Soviet Union to a certain extent. Since then, the United States has tried in vain to meddle in Afghanistan's affairs and dominate the pattern of Central Asia, but in the end it has been mired in a quagmire and finally ended in the withdrawal of its troops.
It can be seen that the reason why the great powers were unable to conquer Afghanistan was mainly determined by its special geographical location.