Look at that. People with common sense and a grasp of military realities were correct after all.

I can only think of one country that gave both the USSR and USA a bloody lip and maybe even a pair of black eyes for their trouble - Afghanistan.

Unfortunately certain elements in the US government were sore losers about that and basically turned what was once a reasonable Muslim nation into a radical nation nightmare that especially the women.

Yes, but the reality is that if either the U.S. or the former USSR had been willing to take the hard approach then even Afghanistan would have fallen. But the entire world would have condemned either nation for totally removing the gloves and then probably have enacted economic sanctions.

That's the deal. Any super power can win against any lesser power IF the super power is willing to do whatever it takes regardless of world wide condemnation and sanctions. Another example: the U.S. could have taken North Vietnam at its pleasure IF our politicians would have been willing to take the heat for authorizing the military to do what was actually necessary to win. As it was we simply wasted the lives of all those military personnel while our politicians PLAYED at being sophisticated chess masters.