I believe you are on the right track, anon. On Afghanistan, I still think that what went down was a complete draining of the DS clown network there. I know that Trump and the Military undertook a massive bombing campaign (the Monday after the alleged Saturday morning Marine/Ospreys raid on Langley where servers confiscated showing GPS mapping of all opium/heroin processing, manufacturing and C&C targets) to degrade the DS drug running operations there. However, the DS network still remained entrenched.
At the same time, I believe that there has been a major White Hat psyop underway concerning ALL NEWS coming out of Afghanistan since the alleged Taliban offensive. Couple that with a "counter psyop" by fake news and the DS/mil and no one knows what exactly in hell has been going on there. A true disinfo/misinfo food fight playing out even now as the generals testify on the Hill.
Whatever the truth, keeping China and Iran from gaining foothold should be a major priority.