why did the U.S. Marines (an amphibious force) fight in Afghanistan (a landlocked country)?
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So generally the US marines are more like an Expeditionary force or a rapid deployment force more than just amphibious fighting force. So before modern standing armies were a thing, historically you needed an experienced field army to perform smaller military operations and to be the first fighting force for a larger conflict. They do the fighting while the rest of the military drafts forces and scales up. Similar principle applies.
I’m not too familiar with Marine policies specifically in the 90s,2000s, and 10s, but more or less they do operate as a smaller but self contained full military. They had jets (typically air force or navy), ships (typically navy), infantry and attack choppers and tanks (typically army) and can work in a more uniform command structure with supply and transport from the Navy. They only really lacked submarines and dedicated satellites.
Now the modern marines are reforming to be a more lighter and faster assault force. As a result, they disbanded their armored units and got rid of their Abrams due to logistics difficulties of moving such a heavy piece of hardware. The military in general is in the midst of a massive overhaul with new guns, new planes, new tactics, new everything. This is especially true for the the Army, while the Marines have to get things approved out of the Navy budget, more or less.
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