&gt; why is US blamed for &quot;destabilizing Afghanistan&quot; and &quot;unintended consequences&quot;, if the area would probably be similarly unstable even in this alternate timeline? if the US meddling didn&#x27;t change anything for the worse, why all the blame?<p>Well, first, I didn&#x27;t say that the US &quot;didn&#x27;t change anything for the worse&quot;. I just said that it wouldn&#x27;t have resulted in a more stable regime, <i>ceteris paribus</i>. Stability is not the only axis on which to evaluate whether the result would have been better or worse[0].<p>And we&#x27;re just talking about the US&#x27;s actions. The US and the USSR are both responsible for the current situation; the &quot;blame&quot; doesn&#x27;t have to be assigned unilaterally to one single entity.<p>[0] I&#x27;m also deliberately not defining &quot;stability&quot;, because that&#x27;s already an incredibly hefty topic when discussing middle eastern history and politics.