Lessons of the First Afghan War: Historical parallels to Afghanistan today

Extract

[...] In the current situation in Afghanistan, those involved should take care not to underestimate the strength of those certain Afghan factions united to drive them out. The factions may seem weak and unprepared, but history shows how much damage they caused in both the Russian and British invasions. Another major lessoned learned in the First Afghan War was on Afghan warfare techniques. The Afghans, when called to action, never fought in huge forces like the Europeans. They instead came in small bands, did their damage, and left. [...]

[...] Lessons of the First Afghan War: Historical parallels to Afghanistan today When the British attempted to invade Afghanistan in the First Afghan War, their resulting defeat was, to the world, a lesson of the consequences of a forced Afghan invasion. History repeats itself in many places, such as the Soviet-Afghan War, where nations attempted to invade, but failed in their attempt. Among the lessons learned in the British invasion of the First Afghan War were: to never underestimate the Afghans' strength, to remember that Afghans have a very different way of fighting from the rest of the world, and to realize that Afghans cherish customs greatly. [...]