I know this will probably sound extremely arrogant but... at least we actually do try to bring democracy when we invade other countries, unlike, say, Russia + Ukraine or China + Hong Kong/Taiwan.

IMO, Afghanistan had a pretty great gift handed to them by the USA, but they didn't value it at all and threw it all away for a crappy theocracy as soon as we pulled out. Stark contrast to South Korea.

To be clear, I now think it's a terrible idea to force democracy on a country that doesn't want it, but hindsight is 20/20.