American apathy to history is evident to the discomfort of many. Therefore, the American state, the establishment and policy makers appear to be hard-core followers of at least one dictum of Hegel, which says, “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”

When the detractors of the only superpower of the world pass the pejorative comment about it having won not a single war since 1945 they are not far off the mark. The American role in the World War II proved vital primarily because the Axis powers were brittle with war fatigue when it entered the war. British and French bore the main brunt of almost six years long Armageddon.

Thus, giving America the entire credit for the victory in the war is far from the truth warranted by history. The way it conducted the Vietnam War which continued for 20 years (1955-1975) is a testament to its amateurish mode of thinking that was utterly devoid of any profound military strategy. The US military high command had no clarity about the goals that it wanted to achieve. More importantly, it failed to inspire confidence among its personnel to give their hundred percent.

The consequences were disastrous. The unceremonious exit from Vietnam was a massive blow to the US prestige as a superpower. If it boasts of dismantling the Soviet Union and defeating its adversarial ideology, any serious student of history and international relations would foreground the real cause for the Soviet debacle. The Soviet Union imploded by committing itself to a policy of reckless imperial overstretch, as Yale historian Paul Kennedy says it in his famous book, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers.

In Afghanistan, those who practically fought against the Soviets did not include Americans. That probably was the prime reason for the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Had it been for the Americans, history might have pronounced a different verdict. Once there is prolonged fighting, Americans become unnerved and demoralised. Then, they seek to unleash a reign of terror and after creating utter chaos, run away with their tail between their legs. That is what they did in Vietnam, in Iraq and then in Afghanistan.

Quite contrary to the well-thought-out, tested, and tried policy enacted by British imperialists in the 19^th Century in similar situations, the Americans exercised brute force against Saddam Hussein in Iraq without thinking through an alternative dispensation in conjunction with the genius of the local populace. Thus, human blood was relentlessly shed leaving behind chaos and disorder that speaks volumes about the myopic vision and lack of foresight on the American’s part.

The emergence of the ISIS is the outcome of what Americans did in Iraq. Few analysts say it with certainty that the ISIS was founded with American connivance. If that claim holds any water, then America is the biggest threat to international peace. The irony is that wherever there is any travesty there is American involvement.

Strangely enough, the people in the White House and Capitol Hill have not bothered to read the history of British colonial exploits. Wherever the British went to occupy any territory they made it a point to keep themselves abreast of the society, culture and history of the colonised. Besides, the British established order and put an end to the chaos.

With the benefit of hindsight, the devil must be given its due. The inescapable conclusion is that the British were not as brutal as the only superpower. All said and done, Americans haven’t learnt anything from history, therefore, they are condemned to repeat the mistakes they committed in the past. Hegel may have made his observation exclusively for that nation.

In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill said, changing the quote attributed to George Santayana, “those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” The Americans seemed bent upon not listening to Churchill and obdurately repeated their history of military adventurism in Iraq in Syria yet again.

Was it too difficult to know that in the Arab social formation tribal dispensation persists to this day? With the absence of democratic institutions and the middle class conspicuously nonexistent, any attempt to introduce the Western version of democracy was bound to boomerang. The society will be atomised and the tribal fissures would get accentuated with civil war being the most likely outcome.

Another choice ploy employed by American policy makers is to clamp sanctions on a country they want to penalise. Iran, and in some cases Pakistan, are vivid illustrations of such unilateral ostracism exercised by America. North Korea is yet another example. But did it benefit by doing so, other than satisfying its inflated ego? In fact, it alienated the people of those countries by adding into their difficulties.

In the post-colonial world, barring India, Americans don’t have many well-wishers. How can they expect to win people’s support from Afghanistan by confiscating their $8 billion? In the prevailing circumstances, belligerence against smaller nations will not deliver. The unipolar world is fast disappearing. They will have to re-invent their policy towards the countries which had been taken for granted in the past.

I think the US State Department and its establishment, which also includes Langley, must first do serious soul-searching, devise a fresh strategy for the American conduct in international relations with respect to the newly-emerging situation.

Instead of investing its resources on China and Muslim countries, the Americans ought to think about themselves. For any disinterested observer, forging Quad and aligning Canada, United Kingdom and Australia to form a new power block against China hardly makes sense when NATO is alive and breathing.

Simply put, America must set its priorities right and try to resolve international issues through diplomacy, instead of acting as a bully who has considerable might but hardly a sense of responsibility, which a superpower is supposed to have.

The author is a professor of history and a writer. He can be reached at tahir.kamran@bnu.edu.pk