War On Terror vs. War On Drugs

Today's The New York Times contained an updated report about how the Taliban are back in control of parts of Afghanistan:

Taliban-controlled districts are shown in red

Contested districts are shown in orange

You can read all about it @
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/29/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-maps.html

And as you may have heard, we're also losing control of much of our own country to Mexican cartels:

Source - http://www.stopfryingyourbrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Mexican-gang-and-drug-cartel-routes.png

What's going on here?

While Mexican cartels are sophisticated, well financed, and heavily armed, one would think the Taliban are relatively unsophisticated, poorly financed, and lightly armed. Why cannot the most powerful nation on earth defeat either of these two groups?

It seems the US really doesn't want to win either of these wars. Too much money is being made by the right powerful interests, and these interests don't want to see the money flow cut off ... ever.

I am aware this is a simplistic assessment, but isn't it really all we need to know?