Yeah, we helped Bin Laden fight off Russia. I don't have an answer for Afganistan, but I do know, that our name will be synonymous with "Paper Tiger' when all said and done. I look at Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afganistan...we just can't get the job done anymore. Our political war policies have really nullified our technologies. The Military wants to get it done, and has the means to do so, but our politicians don't have the stomach for it.
If our politicians that we have today were in the Senate, and Congress back in WWII we would have never won that one either. just sayin...
One would figure $500 billion+ a year would be enough. However, we're certainly not getting our bang for our buck. It's not the fact the politicians don't have the stomach for it, the people don't. After Vietnam, we said never again. However, Americans these days don't want to see a war with such a high body count. One can not really blame them either.
However, the other problem is that we're not going in to win like in WWII. We're going in to occupy and then set up a new Government. That's totally different than WWII. Plus, we had practically the world's entire support in that. In this, we don't.
I would consider Desert Storm a success considering we did achieve our objections too though.