I watched this show on History Channel recently (http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=280849).
What began as the US trying to prevent the North from overrunning the South in Vietnam turned into something completely different. As the North infiltrated the South, the US troops couldn’t tell the difference between infiltrators and the people they were ostensibly there to help. Gradually, you couldn’t tell the civilians from the enemy. And eventually, many of the civilians actually became the enemy. Sounds familiar?
This is the same problem that the US, UK and Canada were having / are still having in Afghanistan. Once this happens, the mission has changed. The original mission doesn’t exist anymore. If you’re still pushing the original mission, you have no chance of success. The result will be the same as Vietnam- a lost war (unless you plan to stay forever, and that can’t happen). The Taliban will not go away, and will prevail weeks after you quit the situation.
So can the situation be salvaged? If so, what is the new mission? Escalation? Total war? What would have worked in Vietnam? Difficult question.
Unfortunately, the parallels are too close to ignore.
Depressing.
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