Question
Can the US succeed in conquering Afghanistan, where the Soviet Union and British Empire have failed?
Answer
The political intractability of governing Afghanistan goes back to long before the Great Game, to the second or third millennium BC. There's a reason it's been called the graveyard of empires. At various times, at least a dozen or more major empires have attempted it. All have failed.
Mainly because it is at once the major regional economic junction (on the Silk Road) and at the intersection of 4 major political-cultural regions (Persia, Central Asia, India, China).
In a way this makes Afghanistan sort of like the asteroid belt: in a weird gravitational region where a planet cannot really coalesce.
The US can conquer it of course, if by 'conquer' you mean bomb it back to the Stone Age and install a puppet despot (they've already done that).
Govern it, no.
Britain probably had the closest matching DNA to Afghanistan in terms of portability of governance cultures. Their success with Scotland is suggestive in this regard. Afghanistan shares some strong similarities with Scotland (kinship based culture etc.), but has several other features that make it far less governable.
Mainly because it is at once the major regional economic junction (on the Silk Road) and at the intersection of 4 major political-cultural regions (Persia, Central Asia, India, China).
In a way this makes Afghanistan sort of like the asteroid belt: in a weird gravitational region where a planet cannot really coalesce.
The US can conquer it of course, if by 'conquer' you mean bomb it back to the Stone Age and install a puppet despot (they've already done that).
Govern it, no.
Britain probably had the closest matching DNA to Afghanistan in terms of portability of governance cultures. Their success with Scotland is suggestive in this regard. Afghanistan shares some strong similarities with Scotland (kinship based culture etc.), but has several other features that make it far less governable.