Comment by pydry

>Afghanistan was invaded because the people in charge of it were tragically unwilling to turn over their unruly house guests

The Taliban were invaded because they refused to hand over bin Laden without the US supplying evidence that he was guilty.

It's hard to overestimate just how much the US was baying for blood at that point. It's plausible that waiting for evidence might have meant paying a high political price.

This bloodlust was later channeled into manufacturing consent for the invasion of Iraq.