No stomach for the job

Three of the more outrageous euphemisms concocted by the American propaganda machine as it sought to extricate itself from involvement in the Vietnam War. “Vietnamisation” was supposedly the training of the South Vietnamese Army to a sufficient level that it could stand on its own feet and safeguard the integrity of the South Vietnamese state and welfare of its people. The aim of this was to allow the withdrawal (retreat) of US and allied forces, whose governments lacked the political will and stamina to continue the long fight. The rest of it – including the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army in 1975 and the betrayal of the people of South Vietnam – is history.

This came to mind when I read several media reports lately that the US, Nato and their allies are planning to speed up their withdrawal (retreat) from Afghanistan. I felt an overwhelming feeling of deja vu. Here were all the old arguments to “shift primary responsibility for combat to Afghan forces and firming up a strategy for world support to the weak Afghan government”. And “reassuring nervous Afghans they will not be left to fend for themselves”.

I’m only surprised they didn’t conjure up “Afghanistanisation” to help whitewash the true meaning.

I am not arguing the rights or wrongs of American and allied intervention in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere. That is altogether another topic of debate. But what the world should learn from these examples is that the US, and indeed most if not all Western nations, lack the stamina to see the jobs completed. For all their military might and superior technology, they fail to understand the intrinsic strength and longevity of centuries old institutions, cultures, beliefs and systems that are different from their own. 

The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong foot soldiers triumphed in the end. What fate awaits Afghanistan only time will tell, but it does look as though history is repeating itself.

David Brown

Rayong