Civil War in Libya

[Tellos Athenaios]

That's not the same, as the Irish state wasn't supporting the Irish terrorists. In Afghanistan, the government was actively aiding and protecting the terrorists. The act of giving official governmental aid transforms the terrorist action into a state-sponsored action.

There are terrorist groups backed/ignored/condoned by countries that the USA doesn't want to invade, or topple governments of. Pakistan springs to mind. So does half of the Middle & Near East, and while we're on the subject: how about Turkey? Afghanistan was chosen for a reason, but aiding terrorists can not be the sole reason. If you wanted to get rid of terrorists you would do better to eradicate the ISI than to waste your time in Afghanistan.

Incidentally, I suppose that the decision to come down hard on Saddam Hussein was partly inspired by the fact that he actively diverted funds from Iraq into well known terrorist organisations operating from the backyards of the broken down Palestinian Authorities.