Afghans are intelligent, tough and smart people. Let there be no doubt about that. Living in harsh, mountains and subjected to all sort of invaders has bred a tough race. So never dismiss them please. You can see how they have run to the ground Soviet Red Army and now USA. Back during the British era the Afghans wiped out a entire British Army group and left one soul alive who they sent back to the British to let them know the disaster that had visited their army.
View attachment 22698
'Remnants of an Army' by Elizabeth Butler portraying William Brydon arriving at the gates of Jalalabad as the only survivor of a 16,500 strong evacuation from Kabul in January 1842.
The problem with Afghanistan is two fold. First is geograhy. The country has high mountains with valleys which are mostly cut off from each other. This mean't that each area developed it's own independance which mutated along tribal lines. This means lots of small groups each viciously independant but non having the ability to pacify or control the rest.
Then after Britain and Russia arived the region become isolated. Almost left as a historical museum cut off from global events. This led to society remaining stuck in time. Any doubts and check out how Afghan Tajiks and Afghan Uzbeks are compared to the their brothers who came under Russian control. The differance is amazing.