Sure, but that would have been pointless because none of the objectives would have been achieved. All those tribesmen would now be in Iran, and the US would have abandoned the world two decades earlier.

Instead... Billions were spent and none of the objectives were achieved anyway. Actually I'm not sure what the objectives even were.

The objectives changed all the time for domestic political reasons. If you want a great podcast series on this checkout Blowback. Season 1 does Iraq and they go back to Afghanistan in season 4.

https://open.spotify.com/show/2pibBnPuHqKr07hxEMZE41

Yes, you could have nuked the whole of Afghanistan. But for what gain?

(And what loss)

Would American soldiers do so? If you think they all would, you have no understanding of history.

After the firsr few years, most soldiers were either mad enough or terrified enough of IEDs that they would have willingly accepted alternative options.

History seems to indicate enough would. And with modern weapons, that can be a low number.