Invading Afghanistan is pretty much the definition of grabbing a tiger by the tail. You may tenuously control things, but you never kill the spirit that drives the beast (brutal tribal power and insurrection). Once you let go of the tail, you better be well out of the way of the teeth and claws. Nobody who has gone there has really left a winner, the place always goes back to being what it was, and the escape can be brutal.
Makes you wonder how the Chinese are going to do there because you get the impression that for every group they appease and deal with there will be at least one other that won't agree. I'd guess their only real path is buy favor with the thugs in charge, neglect any thought of human rights or decency, and bring an army to protect what they are stripping from Afghanistan ... shouldn't be hard to swallow for them because when you get down to it the Chinese aren't really any more civil or different than the Afghani thugs running the place. The Chinese just smile as they shove the knife in.