First Anglo-Afghan War

In abandoning a read of Philip Hensher's "The Mulberry Empire" (the larger premise is intriguing but much or the detail is not worth repeating), I poked a bit into the history of Afghanistan.

In an attempt to install a government friendly to their interests, the British sent 50,000 people into Afghanistan. Although a few were rescued later, only one escaped a massacre during the withdrawal - William Brydon. The Brits repeated this excellent adventure twice more and the US twice again.

The second to last US adventure in Afghanistan was to install the Taliban to displace the Soviet client Najibullah and the last was to install Hamid Karzai to replace the Taliban.

Of course, all of this nation building experience didn't deter the Bush administration from repeating the adventure in Iraq. Now that the Iraqi venture is such a success, Iran is next.