"if we managed to wrap 2 world wars up in 5-ish years each, it has taken them over 10 years in one country"
Several problems with that way of thinking
1) we (and our allies) no longer have a vast pool of conscripted expendables who we are prepared to sacrifice to achieve the ends
2) the Germans didn't go in for asymmetric warfare in a big way
3) we no longer have the resources to carpet-bomb targets - or other otherwise indiscriminately destroy potential enemy targets
4) even if we did, the modern squeemishness about non-combatant casualties would prevent all-out action anyway
You are not going to "win" a situation such as that in Afghanistan unless you follow the lessons of previous wars
a} remove the non-combatant population from locations where they can support the opposition, In other words put them into "secure villages" - or concentration camps
b) have a scorched earth policy for anything that can support the Taliban. Destroy the villages, relocate or kill the animals, put weedkiller on the crops. If anything moves, bomb it. And then bomb it again. And again just to make sure
c) carry out retaliation. Every time the Taliban attack, blow up a mosque. Or two or three. Personally I reckon taking a few redundant 747s or DC10s, stuffing them full of fuel and remote piloting them into a couple of mosques would make people think strongly about whether they really wanted to help the Taliban
d) close the border with Pakistan - again, if it moves, bomb it. Then napalm it to prove the point
Basically total destruction with the gloves off, in the way wars USED to be fought. Of course you'd have to consider a holiday in The Hague afterwards...
Just remember the Soviets couldn't make sense of warfare there, so its little chance that "The West" can - unless we become as intimidating to the locals as the Taliban are
"Of course, the Viet Nam business was "where it was at" .... and the result was two prosperous, more-or-less "democratic" countries, with the "Communist threat" removed"
Am I the only one missing something here? To my way of thinking Vietnam was a f'up which resulted in it, and Laos falling to Communism, and Cambodia falling to genocide