Is Afghanistan really another Vietnam for the US?
Since the involvement of the US in Afghanistan, the Vietnam and Afghan wars are often compared. While the US suffered badly in Vietnam, to the extent that the war proved to be a nightmare for the US and still haunts the nation’s memories because of the trauma it caused, it is not a bed of roses in Afghanistan either.
To brush up the memories as to how and when the US got involved in Vietnam: in 1945 the Viet Minh, a national independence coalition under the leadership of H Chí Minh began an insurgency against the French rule (France had colonised Vietnam in the mid-19th century). Hostilities escalated and in January 1950, the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union recognised Viet Minh’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam, based in Hanoi in the north, as the legitimate government. The following month, the United States and Great Britain recognised the French-backed State of Vietnam in Saigon, led by former Emperor Bo i, as the legitimate Vietnamese government. The US government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam.
During World War II, as an ally the US provided financial and military assistance to the French forces fighting in Vietnam. From the spring of 1950, their involvement increased from just assisting French troops to providing direct military assistance. Eventually, the US began sending out increased military assistance at a constant rate and the US forces became involved in ground combat operations in 1965. At their peak, they numbered more than 500,000 and were also engaged in a sustained aerial bombing campaign.
The year 2018 marks 50 years of a turning point in the US war in Vietnam. Are there any turning points to be seen in our neighbour?
In 1968 came a turning point for the Vietnam War. It was the year when, despite having more than half-a-million of its forces on the ground and massive fire power, the US agreed to launch peace talks in Paris. This step was taken after failing to defeat the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, also known as the Viet Cong (a mass political organisation in South Vietnam that fought against the US and the South Vietnamese governments during the war).
At the beginning of 1968, the Viet Cong, in coordination with the North Vietnamese Army, launched the famous Tt offensive and occupied Hue, a South Vietnamese town. The Tt offensive was a campaign of surprise attacks against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the US armed forces and their allies throughout South Vietnam. The name of the offensive comes from the Tt holiday, the Vietnamese New Year, when the first major attack took place.
The American embassy in Saigon was attacked during that offensive, as a result of which the US was forced to stop bombing North Vietnam for some time and to start the Paris peace talks with the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese government. It was this chain of reverses for the US military in Vietnam in 1968 which compelled Washington to accentuate its efforts for a safe exit from the conflict zone.