[wasfgwp]

Bush won the conventional war in Iraq and generally the US military was quite good at that part (same in Afghanistan or the first Gulf War). They had no clue what to do after the war was won and made a complete mess of it.

Trump hasn’t got the slightest idea how to even get as far as Bush did..

[dh2022]

Hmm, US did not destroy the Taliban in Afghanistan. So I do not think US won much in Afghanistan (for ex. bin Laden was killed in Pakistani)

[wasfgwp]

They occupied the country and mostly/almost did accomplish that. 2002 to ~2005 were reasonably clam.

Then their failures to bulld a stable government brought the Taliban back.

[dh2022]

US did not occupy the country- they occupied the big cities and a built a huge airbase. Countryside was in Taliban hands for the most part.

US never closed the border with Pakistani - and the talibans retreated in Paki when under attack and then went back in Afghanistan when things calmed down.

In Afghanistan US won as much as it won in Vietnam.

[jimnotgym]

So you are saying the military is competent, but the civil administration is not? You might have his the nail on the head

[wasfgwp]

Not really. Or rather not on the same level. Both the government and the military were reasonably competent when it came to winning the conventional wars back then. Both failed at handling the insurgency phase (the political leadership to a larger extent).

Now? Who knows, I guess the military is doing reasonably fine given the constraints they operate under but I doubt competent is the right word.

What is clear is that Bush (in combination with his administration) was pretty much Napoleon compared to Trump, Hegseth & co.