Quote:
Originally Posted by Webstral
Good point!
Tangentially, it's funny how we lost sight of the lessons that came out of Vietnam at the strategic level. The leaders who fought and won Desert Storm believed in applying overwhelming force AND having an exit strategy. We won the conventional parts of Iraq and Afghanistan, but we had no exit strategies. We got stuck fighting another pair of Vietnams, despite our advances in technology, tactics, and troop handling. We had no idea what it would take to win the peace in either place because we had no idea that Western democracies wouldn't spring out fully grown like Athenas from the heads of the respective Zeuses. Tactical aircraft for strategic bombing, mechanized units for peacekeeping, riflemen for nation-building. Oy!
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In Desert Storm, we stuck to the Powell Doctrine. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we largely ignored it.
I'm teaching my juniors about the Vietnam War this week and the parallels I see to the current war in Afghanistan are staggering.
- An elusive enemy who fights "dirty" (i.e. guerilla tactics) and hides in plain sight (VC=Taliban).
- A cross-border refuge that more or less allows the enemy to come and go unmolested (Cambodia/Laos=Pakistan).
- Civilian casualties (most unintentional; a few shocking exceptions, deliberate)
- Winning most pitched battles, but losing the stomach for the seemingly endless grind and attrition.
- No real end in sight- at least none with a very happy ending
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