The Vietnam War was fought from November, 1955, when the United States began directly supporting the South Vietnamese government in their conflict with the North, until April, 1975, when North Vietnamese forces captured the South’s capital of Saigon. The war lasted for almost 20 years. However, America’s military involvement ended in 1973, with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. The Tet Offensive of 1968—a surprise coordinated assault on civilian and military centres across South Vietnam—showed a lack of progress by the US military in obtaining victory and resulted in a loss of domestic support.
When President Nixon ran for office, one of his campaign promises was to end the war, an agreement he described as “Peace with Honour”. But as the old adage goes—history repeats itself, for America is once again trying to extricate themselves from a drawn-out, unpopular war. And it’s left to be seen what it will cost them and who they will sacrifice in order to achieve that goal.
Less than a month after the terror attacks on September 11th, 2001, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom – the invasion of Afghanistan. Their goal was to root out al-Qaeda, to kill or capture its leader, Osama bin Laden, and to remove the Taliban government.
By December of that year, the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies were mostly defeated. Soon after that, an interim government had been installed, one that was not only friendly to the West, but would work to rebuild the war-torn country, ensuring that it won’t be used as a safe haven for terrorist groups. But the Taliban, though defeated, were not destroyed, and have since been engaged in a protracted insurgency using guerrilla warfare and suicide attacks. In 2011 there were 140,000 coalition troops stationed in Afghanistan. But following the withdrawal of NATO and British forces in 2014, there remain around 9,000 US troops. Now President Trump, echoing his presidential predecessor, intends to keep his campaign promise and reduce that number even further.
For the last few months, the Afghan government and the United States have been in negotiations with the Taliban leadership with the goal of reaching a mutually beneficial accommodation that will lead to a lasting peace. Two weekends ago, President Trump announced (ie tweeted) that a planned secret meeting with Taliban representatives at Camp David had been cancelled. He cited a recent attack in Kabul that killed a US soldier as the reason for his decision.
Washington pundits, however, believed there was more to it. Their suspicions were confirmed on Tuesday 10th when National Security Advisor John Bolton suddenly resigned. Sources in the White House revealed that it followed a heated disagreement regarding the president’s scheduled meeting with the Taliban, as well as the possibility of a meeting with the Iranian president later this month. Putting aside the Iran issue, Bolton believed that meeting the Taliban would legitimise the radical Muslim group and strengthen their standing. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, hosting them on US soil so close to the anniversary of the September 11th attacks would be grossly insensitive. He may have inadvertently saved the president from a major public backlash. But what does mean for the future of Afghanistan?
The Afghanistan War has been a costly one, both in lives and in foreign aid. And both America and the international community have signalled an eagerness to cut their losses and let the chips fall where they may. Now their departure doesn’t mean the Afghan government is destined to collapse. But the fact remains that the Taliban remains a major threat, and the country’s security apparatus, even after years of funding and training, are still woefully under-prepared. Stabilising Afghanistan was always going to be a challenge; after all, it has been in near-constant turmoil since the 1970’s. The tragedy is that Afghanistan was a wasted opportunity for the West to prove to the Muslim world that they are not their enemies. To use the Vietnam-era strategy – a priority should have been placed on “winning hearts and minds”. Had the US been fully committed to rebuilding Afghanistan, just as it had for West Germany and South Korea, it would have gone a long way in battling the radical ideology that breeds terrorism. Instead, the focus was shifted to Iraq, leaving Afghanistan a half-completed project and further fuelling the narrative that the US was waging a war on Islam.
When drawing parallels between the wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam, it should be noted that the fore is nowhere as unpopular as the latter. The American public isn’t protesting and support for their armed forces remains strong. That’s probably because, for most of its citizens, the war doesn’t affect their lives. And President Trump wants to keep it that way. General George C Marshall once said, “…a democracy cannot fight a Seven-Year War.” I would add that a US president can’t survive one either. And that’s what the withdrawal comes down to: not only is it an “America first” policy, it’s a “Trump first policy” as well for keeping his promise will help to get him re-elected. Unfortunately, such a short-sighted and self-centred decision allows for the possibility that whatever progress Afghanistan has made could be undone, turning it into another failure of American military intervention—another Vietnam.