Here is another piece of story that is not in the article.<p>When Alexander tried to enter Afghanistan he was met with fierce resistance.  Didn&#x27;t matter what he did, he couldn&#x27;t quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advise. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him. Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid them under the Court carpet and very soon started noticing that men of the court started fighting and killing each other. They became defiant to authority and that led Aristotle to the conclusion, that there is something unique and bizarre w&#x2F; the Afghan soil that makes men fight to the end ... and in a way .. remain as an unconquerable nation. He wrote back to Alexander to with draw from Afghanistan, and which he did.<p>To this day, from Alexander to British to Russia .. Afghanistan has remained pretty defiant to foreign occupation. We will see how long the US will stay there.<p>[note: The above story was passed onto us Afghans for generations and other than referencing my grandpa who is no longer w&#x2F; us, I unfortunately can&#x27;t provide any references. So take it w&#x2F; a grain of salt.]