So How IS the Neocon Ideal Different from Colonialism?

Was there ever a chance for our Afghanistan mission to end differently?

Both the Neocon idea of building democracy, and the European idea of colonialism revolve around the concept that "I know better than you, what is good for you." Paternalism. Patronizing. They differ in the margins, not in the heart. And in the long run achieve the same result. Nolte: The Disastrous Neocon Ideology Dies in Kabul

In Afghanistan, America spent trillions of dollars, lost thousands of precious lives, and toiled for 20 years to make the neocon fantasy of nation-building come true. World peace is easy! they told us. We need to liberate oppressed peoples, build schools and roads, and give them the right to vote. If we do that, peace will break out all over!

For 20 years, these fools have been telling us the fruition of their fantasy was right around the corner. For 20 years, our country poured blood and treasure into their stupid experiment, and in one day — a single day — it all fell apart.

The British were sure that everyone really wanted to be part of the British Empire. The Neocons were just as sure that everyone wanted the local university to offer a Gender Studies major. Both were wrong.

On October 7, 2001, Taliban rule collapsed. That’s when we should have left with a victory in hand, our heads held high, and the world warned not to fuck with us.

Instead, we stayed and stayed and stayed and stayed, and 2,448 of our soldiers died, including two just this year (at the hands of the Taliban), all under this ludicrous neocon idea that the Afghans are all a bunch of Thomas Jeffersons yearning to be free. And now, instead of walking out of Afghanistan strong and victorious on October 8, 2001, we are skedaddling with our tails between our legs. We’re humiliated and not only look foolish and cowardly, but we are now a country no one should trust to keep our promises to stay and protect those who ally with us.

And this isn't the only place that it was noted. Roberta X noted that It Was Never Going To End Well.

Roberta notes that Americans are mostly ignorant of history. In this case, the history of Afghanistan, and foreign intervention.

We did it. The Russians had; the British had; one local tribe did it to the rest of the country at least once. Before them, the Uzbeks stomped in, and before them, Genghis Khan's forces smashed cities and destroyed civil society -- and before that, waves of Islamic invaders had re-civilized the country, shoving aside the already civilized Buddhists and Hindus who had previously brought their faith to the region at swordpoint. On and on it goes, as far back as anyone can find records to read and archeological remains to figure out.

So the United States went there. Did we expect a different outcome? The Russians were sent packing; the Brits barely got in. Alexander the Great (had I left him out?) marched through, charmed and/or intimidated the locals, and left a ruler in place whose successors eventually swapped the bothersome border province to an emerging Indian empire for vows of chumship and a player to be named later, and that's about the best exit anybody ever managed.

And when Roberta says Russians, she doesn't just mean the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire invaded sometime in the middle of the 19th Century. Followed by the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and now us. The Soviets left in defeat, but at least they held on to a shred of dignity. Hiden Joe Biden couldn't manage that in his cut and run strategy.

On the subject of patronizing behaviour and paternalistic behaviour, and how it never works, you can't do better than this talk by Ernesto Sirolli from 2012.