Western media claim that the Tang Dynasty also invaded Afghanistan, and then the tang Dynasty declined after the invasion failed. In fact, at that time, the eastern part of Afghanistan was the Little Buru State, and the mountains in this area were forested and ravines, most of which were above 4000 meters above sea level, and there were as many as 12 snow-capped mountains at an altitude of more than 7500 meters, of which the world's second highest peak, Chogol, reached an altitude of 8611 meters.
In itself, the State of Xiao bolu was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, but it took advantage of the distance from the Emperor Gao of Chang'an more than 9,000 miles to continuously attack the border areas of the Tang Dynasty. In the 6th year of Tang Tianbao, Tang Xuanzong ordered a crusade against Xiao Bolu. The general who led the army was Gao Xianzhi of Goguryeo, and Gao Xianzhi first ordered Shule shou to capture Zhao Chongjue with 3,000 cavalry as a way, and changed the guard to capture Jia Chongjuan to bring a cavalry as a flank.
Ten thousand Tang soldiers divided into three routes, crossed the great desert, the high mountain Sare kuol Ridge, into the Alichur Valley of Badakhshan, The Karakoram Mountains and other high-altitude snow-capped deserts and no man's land in Badakhshan, Tajikistan. In the end, the divine soldiers descended from heaven and appeared in the territory of the little Bury country, and now Lianyun Fort in northeastern Afghanistan, and the great war was about to break out.
Now, Datang's army is thousands of miles away from home, and behind it is an endless snowy mountain, with no retreat and no danger to defend. There is only one way to attack forward, without stopping. Gao Xianzhi issued an order that the first charge must be won, and the first wave of the Tang Army's two major forwards, Li Siye and Tian Zhen, launched an attack and captured Lianyun Fort in one morning.
Finally, in the city of Xiao Bolu, Li Siye once again personally led the Tang Dynasty Mo Dao Army to be the first to rush into the xiao bolu king's city, captured the xiao bolu king and the royal family, and sent all these people back to Chang'an to be taken prisoner.
However, in the tenth year of Tianbao, that is, in 751, the main force of Gao Xianzhi's Tang army was defeated by the Arab Empire at the Battle of the Qiluo River. At this time, the big and small Buru rebelled again, and in the 12th year of Tianbao, the Tang general Feng Changqing went on another expedition to defeat the Great Bolu in Kashmir and the Little Buru in Afghanistan. The Ōtsuki clan was rebuilt and given a high degree of autonomy to the area.
This is also the difference between the Tang army and the American army, after the Tang army captured the big Bolu and the small Bolu, they did not directly garrison the army, but gave them a high degree of autonomy, and also let the Tocharian royal family as the leader. The main force of the Tang army was stationed in the nearby western region to monitor, which not only maintained the deterrent power, but also did not fall into the local guerrilla warfare, and also reduced the cost of rule and management.
However, in the 14th year of Tianbao, that is, in 755 AD, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and all the Tang troops in the Western Regions returned to Guannei to participate in the war. Datang lost control of Afghanistan and Kashmir.
In fact, the Tang Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, including the Ottoman Empire, and the United Kingdom during the Era of the Sun Never Set were very good at controlling these areas far from the center of their rule. The United States, as an emerging empire with a history of just over 200 years, is much worse.
These established empires, when controlling these areas far from the center of their rule, were the best at using local forces and dividing them into divisions, while garrisoning them to deter in the vicinity. The U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan personally went down and deployed the U.S. military in Iraq and all over Afghanistan. Thus igniting endless guerrilla warfare.
At the same time, the United States also parachuted from the United States to the mainland of the powerless, American Afghan banker to become the president of Afghanistan. Instead of nurturing local forces that are powerful on home, the result is that there are more and more opponents, and in Afghanistan, in Iraq, there is no control. In the end, the United States spent trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan to escape in ashes, exhausting the energy of the empire.