Tank, I gotta say I hear what you are saying but an IED is just that, its improvised, that is it rarely looks like what it is, not often mechanically detonated and usually detonated by remote, cell phone or similar receiver.
As far as the Russians are concerned they weren't there as allies to the government but as invaders and as such had little or no support in country. The supply chain which was constantly broken or under attack is what finished off the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and the fact that the Afghans were being supplied with weapons and training from the west. Our casualties are no higher than our previous peacekeeping details and I'm not trying to downplay the numbers because any one of them is too many but this deployment has a price. Convoy discipline has a lot to do with what is happening, instead of maintaining reasonable distance between vehicles , they bunch up and 2 or three vehicles become one target. Just plane Nuttz has a very valid point regarding Pakistan, if they are sheltering the Taliban or providing aid or comfort in any way shape or form they should be dealt with the same way as the Taliban. i truly hope your statement about this becoming our Vietnam was not serious, as part of a combined force the burden would be shared by a number of countries, actually no, by all of the member nations of that decrepit hole in the wallet, THE UNITED NATIONS, talk about a mis-named institution. I could go on at length about my own experience with them but why bother, the whole world respects them, just ask Romeo Dallaire.