Answer:Afghanistan poverty
Explanation: Combining a fierce national pride with being at the crossroads of many other empires does not help.
To many Americans, the history of Afghanistan begins with the war against the Soviet Union, with support from the USA (and yes, people, that’s how and when fundamentalist Sunni groups were born, with the intent to fight communism. Since they were apolitical, Ronnie and his team thought they were harmless and easy to control. Oops.)
But long before that, Afghanis fought Iranians (then called Persians), Indians, zarist Russia and the British. And after that, as we now know, they fought us (and still do). I remember a good (but not very wise) friend of mine, barely a few months after the initial US campaign in early 2002, boasting that the US Army had succeeded in a few months where the Russians had failed in years: since he is still a friend, I’d rather not remind him we’re in 2018 and still there…
In summary, it’s not easy to build a country on Kalashnikovs and RPGs. But, whatever you think of the current religious and political situation, you have to admire their tenacity and refusal to yield to foreign powers, no matter how big.
