I'm part russian and my dad served in Afghanistan during the Soviet war.
I wouldn't say that US has more luck than USSR back in 80's. Technology was not as advanced back than. Most operations had to be done on land. My dad was compiling maps from data gathered by his plane and crew. There were no recent maps, since Afghanistan was in economical despair back then as well.
They did not have much luck there, since US funded a lot of anti-soviet operations and now it is interesting to see that Russia is actually trying to cooperate with US. Today, US has amazing technology on hands. Sattelite targeting, global intelligence, support of NATO and UN, etc.
For me, as somebody part-russian, there's nothing to envy or hate US for. War is terrible, no matter who provokes it and I don't want any country to compete in destroing another nation.
P.S. What's wrng with russian structure today? Corruption. Only children of people who stole something during the last decade can live and enjoy their lives fully. The rest are working hard, but don't get much from today's economy.