Afghanistan and Vietnam

The American desire for a hasty withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan; seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to its troops’ withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975. In both cases, the local governments were not involved in negotiations. In both the cases, the local governments were not happy with the abrupt withdrawal of US forces.

The architect of the cut and run withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam, the then US foreign minister Henry Kissinger even got a Nobel Peace Prize. It is yet to be seen whether the present negotiator for withdrawal of American forces Zalmay Khalilzad emulates Kissinger in this respect. The capital of Vietnam fell shortly after the withdrawal of US forces; the fate of Kabul is yet to be seen.

Akbar Jan Marwat

Islamabad