An interesting contrast between Vietnam and Afghanistan

[question everything]

While Afghanistan has been the longest war, American casualty were around 2400, this, compared to Vietnam with the 58,000 dead.

I will not go and say a sense of relief, because it is not. Yet, interesting contrast.

[Sneederbunk]

1. About 30 per cent of the US soldier deaths in Vietnam were draftees.

[ansible]

2. That makes it even more humiliating

Vietnam was against the North Vietnamese Army mostly. Afghanistan was against desert tribes.

[UTUSN]

3. Other contrasts: Those countries did not want us there. - Also,

* Both have a history of being invaded, unsuccessfully.

* U. S. didn't learn from those histories, took over the lack of success, tried to impose/convert/colonize.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. Big difference between a governmental ideology and a Religious one.

Vietnam was more about political and governing versus a Religious ideology that governs EVERY aspect of life.

Vietnam eventually was able to govern itself snd grow its economy. Capitalism in moderation it appears.

Afghanistan is a country with no national economy or natural resources in which to build a government on. The rigid form of Islam sets its people back to the 12th century. No value for women and girls. No education. No prospects.

Nor should we be in the Nation building business with our brand of Democracy. We know the Taliban is indifferent to any tolerance of a modern world or thinking. Hard to fight against that. But fight must the people do if they want to breathe free of oppression.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. This is simply not entirely true.

Afghanistan is a country with no national economy or natural resources in which to build a government on

◇The country is a literal goldmine of mineral and gem wealth and oil. The Chinese* have a three billion dollar contract for a copper mine, Aynak**, that has been assessed as possibly the largest copper reserves in the world. The rare earth elements, aka REEs, are also abundant. The overall mineral wealth of the country has been assessed at approximately one trillion dollars and could be worth three trillion.

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Metallurgical_Group_Corporation

◇List of mines

~Badakhshan Province: Badakhshan Gold, gemstones, lapis lazuli.
~Baghlan Province: Baghlan clay and gypsum, Dudkash industrial minerals
~Balkh Province: oil.
~Bamyan Province: Hajigak Mine (iron oxide).
~Daykundi Province: tin and tungsten
~Farah Province in the west: copper, lithium;
~Ghazni Province: Dashti Nawar lithium salts; Zarkashan Mine(copper, gold)
~Ghor Province: Karnak-Kanjar mercury, Nalbandon lead and zinc
~Helmand Province: Khanneshin carbonatite, gold, rare-earth elements, possible uranium reserves; Chagai Hills travertine, copper and gold.
~Herat Province: Shaida Copper Mine Dusar tin, Tourmaline tin, Herat barite and limestone
~Jowzjan Province: Oil and Gas
~Kabul Province: Jegdalek, Surobi District (gemstones).[26]
~Kandahar Province: copper, cement
~Kapisa Province: copper
~Kunduz Province: Kunduz celestite
~Logar Province: copper (Mes Aynak)**
~Nangarhar Province: elbaite, Ghunday Achin magnesite and talc.
~Nimroz Province: Godzareh (Gaudi Zireh) lithium salts.
~Nuristan Province: Nuristan pegmatites and gemstones.
~Panjshir Province: Panjshir Valley gemstones e.g. emerald.
~Paktika Province: Katawaz gold and Oil
~Samangan Province: Aybak (copper); Shabashak, Dara-I-~Suf District (coking coal).
~Sar-e Pol Province: Balkhab Copper Mine (world's largest deposit), Oil (Kashkari, Angot, etc.).
~Takhar Province: Samti, Panj River Valley (gold), Evaporite.
~Urozgan Province: Bakhud fluorite
~Zabul Province: Kundalyan gold and copper.

Also the following places which have not, as yet, been positively located:

~Southeastern Afghanistan: copper, at the Darband, and the Jawkhar prospects.
~Anjir, Hasar, and Nooraba Valleys: gold

Reference Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Afghanistan

◇More from Asia Times...
Kabul starts race for Afghan resources
By Robert M Cutler

Snip...
In 2007, China won rights for the $2.9 billion development of a copper mine at Aynak**, Logan province, in the south, leading to the replacement of Afghanistan's previous minister of mines following accusations of bribery. The development of the 24,200-hectare site (over 15 square miles) will destroy an area filled with ruins of fifth-century Buddhist monasteries.

Aynak, believed to contain the second-largest copper reserves in the world, will be Afghanistan's largest infrastructure project. China has a 30-year lease and is expected to spend over $3 billion developing the project, where the deposits are estimated to be worth up to $88 billion.

Aynak's development by China has already led to construction of a coal-fired electrical plant because there were no power sources available, as well as the country's first freight railway. The contract includes obligations by China to contribute significantly to the social infrastructure, building mosques, hospitals, markets and bazaars.

It will take years to develop Afghanistan's mineral wealth, but the potential is significant. Snip...
Link
https://web.archive.org/web/20111214231329/http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ML15Df02.html

◇ https://democraticunderground.com/100215741006

###

There's more but you get my drift.
❤pants

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Advances in medical care, among other factors. NT

[dalton99a]

6. FWIW The last U.S. troops departed on March 29, 1973. Saigon didn't fall until April 30, 1975.

The South Vietnamese army held on for over two years before Saigon was overrun. They fought back and lost a lot of soldiers - 70,000 killed in 1974 alone

[question everything]

7. Right! And we still have the humiliating image of the helicopters hovering over the embassy

Was there something that should have been done during these two years?

[Irish_Dem]

8. Better emergency medical care kept casualties down.

But we have many more horrific post war injuries to rehab and pay for than VN.

[bluedigger]

9. A hometown company now has three factories in Vietnam.

Let us see what the Taliban make of Afghanistan in 2050. I'm not personally optimistic.

[EX500rider]

11. better training, better medical, better gear

Most of the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are not caused directly by combat. Meanwhile, one of the more dramatic changes in warfare during the last decade has been the dramatic change in the pattern of wartime combat casualties. The most notable change was the sharp drop in the number of American combat dead. The combat death rate in Iraq was a third of what it was in Vietnam and World War II. With the dramatic drop in combat deaths, came another big shift. In World War II, one in three casualties was killed. In Iraq and Afghanistan, only 12 percent of the casualties were fatal. This does not change the dramatic difference between combat losses then and now. In World War II, U.S. divisions suffered about 60 dead and wounded per combat day, while in Iraq there was been 3.5 (during the period of peak combat) per combat day, and in Afghanistan, even less. So by any measure, U.S. troops have learned how to avoid getting hit. The reasons are better equipment, tactics, weapons, leadership and training than in the past. With an all-volunteer force, the troops are smarter and more physically fit than in the past. Many of the life-saving innovations U.S. troops have come up with in the past decade have not gotten much publicity. Good news doesn't sell, but in this case, it has definitely saved lives.

https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/20100125.aspx