Too simple for "reality" perhaps, but since this quaint idea of "changing the way Washington works" is starting to show its age already in a 24/7 news cylce world, across the ridge...
Population of Afghanistan: 33,000,000
Population of Pakistan: 173,000,000
Total estimated population of both: 200,000,000
Cost of the Afghanistan portion of the current U.S. military operations initiated by GW Bush and friends: $440,000,000,000 (not really including long-term costs and interest)
Estimated cost to build a fully furnished hospital in that region of the world: $200,000
(based on a new hospital being fund-raised for in nearby India)
Estimated cost of a fully equipped school for about 75 students: $100,000
(based on example here: New Unicef school in Pakistan
Number of hospitals that could be built for the cost of just the Afghanistan portion of the wars thus far: 2,200,000
Yeah, you read that right, that's over two million hospitals, or about one for every 100 people in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Number of schools possible: 4,400,000
Number of long-term recruits and implicit/explicit supporters for the extreme elements who wish to wage war with the U.S. and the West, if a fraction of the money spent thus far had went to building just 1000 hospitals and 2000 schools (even if you add in the costs of stabilization and security and diplomatic efforts necessary to assure their success) instead of invading under the pretense lie of "spreading democracy" and/or pure vengeance for 9/11:
pretty close to ZERO
...and the few remaining would have been a hell of a lot easier to identify, and capture due to lower overall volume.
Yet what do we get instead? More enemies. Stronger enemies. More years of taxpayer dollars paying to increase the number of dead Americans and civilians. More hatred for America. More American detachment from reality and the rest of the world. Less "hope" for real "change".
Sorry for the moment of lucid exasperation or exasperated lucidity or whatever, but sometimes we're just so stupid that I can't help but think there's not much we're going to be able to do to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs.
[That said, of course I still cling to hope for change. I just had to express the mindboggling simplicity that seems to escape most everyone who might have influence in righting this badly listing ship we're all on...]