General Stanley Mcchrystal and Afghanistan

General Stanley McChrystal and Afghanistan

A year and a half ago, after reading, “Vietnam: A History,” written by author Stanley Karnow. General Stanley McChrystal commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan asked a question of the author. It was a simple question. “Is there anything we learned in Vietnam that we can apply to Afghanistan? The answer was just as simple. “The main thing I learned was that we should never have been there in the first place.” Another book that McChrystal  read by author Lewis Sorley, “A Better War,” argued that the United States could have won in Vietnam if the U.S. congress hadn’t cut off military aid to South Vietnam.

Cover of Vietnam: A History

Sorley’s book got a lot of attention at the Pentagon and McChrystal’s headquarters. Sorley argues though not in so many words, that the military was stabbed in the back by its civilian leaders. NewsWeek contacted General McChrystal for his opinion of Sorley’s argument but he had no comment.

President Obama had been reading some books, too. One that attracted his attention was, “Lessons in Disaster,” by Gordon Goldstein, explaining how President Kennedy and Johnson were not well informed on Vietnam. The book inferred that the war was an unwinnable war. There are always, “what ifs” but historians have suggested there were moments when winning the Vietnam war was possible.

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In 1965 it was said that if Johnson had moved aggressively into Vietnam and cut off enemy supplies, the North Vietnam might have conceded. The second inicident was five years later when the military was having some success. Would more resources and heavier fighting have resulted in South Vietnam remaining independent? Some historians say yes, some say no, but we can’t know either way.

Armies learn slowly. In 1942 and 1943 armed forces fought badly in Africa. They did better in 1944-45 in France and Germany. In Iraq and Afghanistan, American forces have also been slow learners. But in Iraq under the supervision of General David Petraeus, U.S. forces began to focus on protecting citizens while targeting Jihadist leaders. That gave the Iraqi government some space to negotiate with Sunni enemies to establish a kind of peace.

Now we will see what comes next in Afghanistan since McChrystal forgot that he is not above the President and has handed in his resignation. Will Obama take the middle ground and try to compromise, or will he decide that the leadership is too corrupt and that they will forever regard the U.S. forces as alien occupiers? Will Americans tolerate a war that will only grow more expensive in dollars and lives? Only time will tell, and the historians who write the stories that follow.

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