I wonder if I'm the only person who keeps hearing the military and security analysis commentary on President Biden's announced withdrawal from Afghanistan and gets echoes of the same class of people regarding Vietnam in the mid-1970s.
"Without our support, our allies are doomed." "If [Afghanistan/Vietnam] falls to the [Taliban/Vietcong], it is a massive threat to US security." "We should stay until [Afghanistan/Vietnam] has a stable democratic government."
Had we listened to that advice 60 years ago, I think we'd still be in Vietnam today...and Vietnam would not be the stable, prosperous country it is now, a country that is one of our strongest economic partners in Asia (despite being nominally "Communist"). We spent about 15 years in 'Nam before realizing our goals were unachievable; it'll be 20 years in Afghanistan by September, and we actually achieved our stated goals years ago--getting the terrorist organization that masterminded 9/11 (including the killing of Osama bin Laden).
I suspect that the reason these people keep arguing against withdrawal is the same reason they had about Vietnam--they simply cannot stand to be proven wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment