America’s unwise, unwarranted, and sadly unwinnable war in Afghanistan—hastily initiated and then abandoned for Iraq by President Barack Obama’s ideologically blinded predecessor and dumped into Obama’s lap in the worst possible way—is beginning increasingly to smell like the 1964-68 war in South Vietnam that swallowed up the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Full Story »
Posted by Derek HawkinsTo:
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What makes this quality journalism is that the writer's experience with presidential decisionmaking provides valuable insights. Afghanistan is not a repeat of Vietnam, where there was an organized insurgency with a hero, Ho Chi Minh, to spur it on. Afghanistan is a very loosely connected collection of warlords, anarchists and committed terrorists. But Sorensen is right that it is, like Vietnam, an unwinnable war. All we can hope for is preventing terrorists from attacking us or our allies, and that can't be brought about by simply sending in more troops. The mountainous terrain, the ever-changing alliances within the country, and the lack of support for the country's "elected" leader makes any mission that goes beyond containment of terrorist attacks beyond its borders a fantasy.
