Was the United States trying to kill all the Afghanis, raise the Stars and Stripes over Afghanistan and start mining and farming the place for goods to ship back home? Not sure it's a fair comparison given the differing goals. I'm pretty sure we were using Afghanistan as the Military Industrial Complex's cum dumpster.

Sure, they have these frightening tools that are louder than thunder, create foul smoke and kill people from a distance, but those things won’t protect your back from being shanked

No, that's what a quirass is for. That's why they wore those.