[sudosysgen]

Aircraft carriers lose efficacy rapidly as distance increases. The aircraft flying from them require refueling and longer-range standoff munitions, which requires super-linearly more sorties to get the desired. This is even worse when the targets are far from shore, which can be the case when you want to bomb large countries.

The American doctrine might be to kill the enemy before you are in their view. But the enemy gets a vote. This is no longer something the US can rely on, even against clever enough middle powers.

It's just true that the assumptions that underpinned the current American force composition and strategy are breaking down. That's why the war went much worse than most mainstream analysts expected.