blktop - the article on afgan is piece of trash written by someone who had no clue about afgan, soviet union, poland, hungary or yugoslavia... if you care, find your own sources.

afgans were and still are defending the poppy crops... you have opium - you have guns around it... not to diminish the strategic value of old Silk Road - the afgan warlords are collecting a "tax" on every truck passing through their territory (usually a $1 for unit of cargo - 100 bails of something = $100, 500 CD players = $500 US$).

Russia can sustain a war far better than the US - everytime a war stepped into Russia, they survived... 1812 failure of Napoleon. 1945 failure of Hitler... most time they stepped out of Russia - they failed (not counting that Alps mission with General Suvorov, which was successful). in 1986 there was a huge dissent (Academician Sakharov), which raised awareness inside Russia. which dwindled the support for the war...
We are failing in afgan because we thought we could fast forward feudalic society stuck in Middle Ages into the XXI century... which proved not to be working...