The Afghan war is another example of failed military intervention by a superpower. The Soviets had their war in Afghanistan, and then the empire started collapsing not too long afterwards. Spending too much money on the military is one of the main reasons empires fall, so the U.S. should learn from that and try to be a humanitarian superpower instead.

Since 2001 the US has been at War in Afghanistan – the longest war in US history. Headlines concisely tell the story of this cruel boomeranging quagmire of human violence and misery. Below are some newspaper headlines from 2010 to the present to show that a militarized foreign policy without Congress’s constitutional duties and steadfast public engagement will drift on, costing our soldiers’ lives and limbs, nearly three-quarters of a trillion taxpayer dollars, hundreds of thousands of Afghani lives and millions of refugees, with no end in sight.

Here we go – year by year:

2010

Setbacks in Afghanistan Aggravate Fissures Over Obama Administration’s Review Strategy, Magnifying Differences

US Money Financing Afghan Warlords for Convoy Protection, Report Says

Afghan Base Tests US Exit Plans

In Bank Scandal, Kabul Struggles to Recover Missing Money

Afghanistan Halts Taliban Peace Initiative

US Slows Troop Pullout in Afghanistan

2011

Six Children Are Killed by NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan

Airstrike Ravages US-Pakistan Ties

In Afghanistan, a Sweeping Ambitious Effort to Gather Biometric Data

US General Defends Afghanistan Night Raids

US Secretly Met Afghan Militants

American Soldier is Convicted of Killing Afghan Civilians for Sport

[…]

2017

US General Favors Boost in Troops in Afghanistan

Selling Trump a New Afghan Commitment

Taliban Tap New Income Stream: Collecting Bills for Afghan Utilities

U.S. Military Drops 22,000-Pound Bomb on Islamic State Forces in Afghanistan

America Keeps on Failing in Afghanistan

Taliban Seize Two More Afghan Districts in Sustained Fighting

A Peace ‘Surge’ to End War in Afghanistan

Blackwater’s Founder Wants Trump to Outsource the Afghanistan War

Joint Taliban-ISIS Attack Kills Dozens, Afghan Officials Say

Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals

 No Way Out: Trump’s Crude View of Afghanistan Won’t Solve U.S.’s Longest-Running War

The final headline is as appropriate now as it was when it was printed in 2011: “Futility in Afghanistan.”