It's not about that... When a nation goes through a crisis, it sets them back, and they must re-start from step one. That often means what their foundations as a nation is. From there onwards progress will be a natural process... even China went through this difficulty when Mao began his rule, what was China's GDP until the 90s? now you can brag about China being great and whatnot because you people had the time and resources to make that happen.
Every nation has 8 stages... stage 1: from bondage to spiritual growth, step 2: from spiritual growth to courage, step 3: from courage to liberty, step 4: from liberty to abundance, step 5: from abundance to complacency, step 6: from complacency to apathy, step 7: from apathy to dependence, step 8: from dependance back to bondage.
Afghanistan is in step 1, China I would say is in step 4, while America is in step 5 entering 6.