2021 Kabul, Afghanistan and Saigon, Vietnam

- Hasmukh Gajjar

- The way the Afghan army, trained for 20 years, has fallen to its knees against the Taliban has cut America's nose. Some experts compare the recent Kabul incident to the 1975 Saigon incident.

Taliban militants have taken control of Afghanistan after the US withdrew its troops. America can only be reassured that the Taliban were in control as long as we were there. The United States has no regrets about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, but the way the Afghan army, trained by the United States for 40 years, has been on its knees against the Taliban has cut its nose. Afghanistan, with a history of bloody epidemics, has been a stronghold of terrorism. Everyone is worried that this terrorist virus will spread to other parts of the world. It should not be forgotten that Al Qaeda flourished during the Taliban rule from 2001 to 2001.

Afghanistan has been hit by viruses from several terrorist organizations waiting for favorable weather. Two scenes went viral on social media after the Taliban took control of Kabul. It took a long queue of people to board a helicopter that flew from a US agency building in Saigon, South Vietnam. This photo of America's humiliation in Vietnam was taken by photographer Hulbert. The second scene was in recent Kabul, in which a US helicopter landed on the roof to rescue people trapped inside the US embassy.

After 150, when the world was divided into capitalist America and the communist Soviet Union, the Vietnam War lasted from 19 to 19. Vietnam was a French colony when it invaded Japan in World War II. Influenced by the communism of the Soviet Union and China, Ho Chi Minh formed an organization to liberate Vietnam (Viet Minh) from the clutches of France and Japan.

At the end of World War II, the Japanese army left Vietnam and was occupied by Emperor Bao Dai, considered a puppet of France. Ho Chi Minh's army seized the landlocked territory of Hanoi and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Ho Chi Minh himself became the president of DRV. Emperor Bao, who had the support of France, established a separate state with Saigon as his capital. At one point, Ho Chi Minh and Bao wanted Vietnam to be unified, but there were differences over the system.

Bao supporters wanted a Western model of governance while Ho Chi Minh wanted communist rule. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. After the communist Ho Chi Minh's army hoisted the flag over North Vietnam, a fierce battle broke out with the South Vietnamese army. With the defeat of Bao's southern army, however, the French colonial rule came to an end. In the 19th Geneva Treaty, North and South Vietnam were divided. The northern part was communist while the southern part was ruled by the capitalist model of the west.

The United States jumped into the fray in the 16th year of the overthrow of Emperor Bao of South Vietnam. At the time, the Cold War was raging between the Soviet Union and the United States. The United States trained South Vietnamese troops, provided weapons, and even sent troops. In South Vietnam, communist supporters known as Viet Minh were slaughtered. More than 1 lakh were arrested and imprisoned. North Vietnam was bombed in retaliation for the 18th attack on two US ships in Tokin Bay. Under Operation Thunder, in the 19th century, the then President of the United States, Jonas, sent 2.5 million troops to Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The U.S. military has cracked down on protesters in Vietnam. In World War II, bombs six times more powerful than Japan were dropped on Vietnam.

The difficulty for America increased as the Soviet Union and China helped communist supporters. People along with the Vietnamese army also started killing American soldiers. America was bombing powerful but its military position on the ground was deteriorating. The United States finally withdrew its army in a treaty with North Vietnam on January 12. The United States lost 3,000 troops and billions of dollars in the Vietnam War.

There was anger among Americans over the Vietnam War. On April 30, 19, just two years after the army withdrew, the northern communist army invaded and annexed Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh. Saigon America had to launch a campaign from its embassy to rescue 5,000 people in South Vietnam and its own country. The fall of Saigon had tarnished America's image. Perhaps the effect of the Vietnam Syndrome was that the United States did not even send troops to stop the 19th Rwanda genocide.

Some American political pundits have compared the recent incident in Kabul to Saigon. The situation and circumstances in Kabul and Saigon are different but the result is the same. The Saigon incident in Vietnam comes two years after the US withdrew its troops from Kabul. The biggest setback for the United States in Afghanistan is that US defense sources have cited intelligence agencies as saying that the Taliban could take control of Kabul in the next 30 days. Surprisingly, just two days after the forecast, Taliban commanders were patrolling the Afghan president's palace.

US President Joe Biden has announced that he will withdraw his troops from Afghanistan by August 31. On May 6, the Taliban, awaiting Tampi, launched attacks on the Afghan army in nine provinces, including southern Helmand. On June 11, the Taliban took control of the Nerkh district near Kabul, and news of sporadic fighting spread across the country.

It is not that the world was in the dark about this act of the Taliban. The United Nations special envoy said the Taliban had won 20 of the 20 districts in Afghanistan. The most surprising thing was that the US military quietly evacuated Bagram airport. The Taliban took control overnight as US troops withdrew.

This means that the US military was not in the mood to fight the Taliban at any cost. On August 15, the Taliban captured Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city. On August 15, the Taliban's flag was flown over Sharif, the largest city in the north. The U.S. immediately sent troops to evacuate its personnel. There were no protests in Jalalabad as Taliban fighters were advancing on Kabul. The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15.

If we talk about Afghanistan like Vietnam, in the last 20 years, 6 civilians, 4000 Afghan soldiers have died. Considering that the total population of Afghanistan is 25 million, the number of casualties is very high. The United States has lost eight of its elite personnel and 200 private security personnel. In addition, 20 NATO member states have lost 112 staff. As a result of the war, 3 lakh Afghans took refuge in Iran, Pakistan and some European countries.

According to one source, the United States has spent 60 billion in 20 years. The US Department of Defense estimates that ૫ 215 billion has been spent on war. Since the war, various projects in Afghanistan have cost ૪૩ 12 billion. For the first time, the United States owed માટે 40 billion in interest for the war in Afghanistan.

Billions of rupees have been spent on building Afghanistan which has become useless. Canals, dams and main roads could not be used properly. New hospitals and schools are completely empty. Corruption is rampant and ordinary people are deprived of development. There have been few efforts for health, education, children's and women's rights, but in the end, the Taliban's rule has fallen into disrepair. America was trying to give a stable democratic government without success.