The ending of the war on terror in 2021, with the United States withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, marks a massive change in the United States foreign policy and how they will fight wars and implement their strategic goals for at least the next ten years.
The USA has lost in terms of the general public the political will and social will to engage in conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq, which had the Americans invading and deploying 130,000 US soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively, with the United Kingdom contributing 45,000 soldiers to the conflict.
The United States faced a similar scenario in the past when the USA previously thought in the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975. However, it was in 1965 that the United States started contributing more heavily from the original 25,000 advisers in the region.
This was when the United States became more heavily involved in Vietnam. The dates for US involvement in the Vietnam War vary, with historians placing the start date as 1947, with the conflict lasting for around 23 years.
The Vietnam War is normally remembered as a 10-year conflict within the USA and globally; like the Hundred Years War, it lasted from 1337 to 1453, which is, if you count will, more than a hundred years.
There are many contradictions to understanding history and global events. At the top of this article, I’ve stated that the war on terror is over, but that’s technically true and false because deployments are happening secretly. Still, in the public Imagination, the war is over and finished.
How Does Past Conflict Relate to the Ukraine War?
Ukraine War in 2014 to the present day or 2022 to the present day, depending on which date you wish to choose for the conflict, is it the Russian invasion or direct open intervention in the Ukrainian conflict in 2022?
The Ukraine War is one of several conflicts fought between Russia and the United States since the end of the Second World War in 1945. From 1945 until 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet empire, both the USA and the Soviet Union engaged in a series of proxy wars.
These conflicts are the most relevant Ukrainian conflict, showing how the Soviet Union and China supported the Vietnamese, which led to the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War.
This, again, is very similar to the United States backing the mujahedin fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan-Soviet war from 1979 until 1989, which ended with the defeat of the Soviet Union and contributed to the collapse of that state.
What can be interpreted from this historical information is the colouration of a smaller state or fighting force being able to defeat a superior state in terms of resources and manpower, providing they have logistical, financial, technical and other support from another great power like the USA.
The Future of American Strategy
The United States, due to the experience of Afghanistan, will not be deploying any soldiers on the ground unless it’s necessary to defend their strategic interests like the first Gulf War 1990 to 1990 being waged to prevent Saddam Hussein from taking control of Saudi Arabia and the world’s oil supply.
This threat convinced the American administration of George H. W. Bush to intervene and deploy troops to support Saudi Arabia and kick Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army out of Kuwait.
This means that for the foreseeable future, the United States will wage most of their wars by supporting other regimes or factions in conflicts that align with the interests of the United States and their allies.
This happened after the Vietnam War and again in the Ukrainian War. After Vietnam United States supported the mujahedin to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan, and the Americans are doing the same again by supporting Ukrainians to defeat the Russians in Ukraine.
A big factor why the Ukraine War is different from the war in Afghanistan is that Ukrainians have a population of over 40 million souls willing to resist and fight off the Russian aggressors, unlike situations in Afghanistan and Vietnam.
In contrast with Ukraine, the Americans have the fighting men and women available to combat the Russians providing the United States and its allies if they keep providing logistical support and military materials.
Ukraine War offered an opportunity for the United States to defeat the only nation that threatened the survival of the USA. There have only been three nations that truly threatened American interests. First is the United Kingdom, which where the original overlord of the 13 colonies that became the United States.
The second threat to America was the Mexicans which the Americans defeated in the American Mexican War of 1846 to 1848.
Finally, there are the Russians and Soviets who threatened nuclear annihilation of the United States and engaged in global international rivalry lasting from the end of the Second World War until 1989.
Sources and Bibliography
Britannica Mexican-American War Mexico-United States [1846–1848] link
Britannica George H.W. Bush President of United States link
History Channel Persian Gulf War link
History Channel Hundred Years’ War link
The Atlantic The Soviet War in Afghanistan, 1979 – 1989 link
History Channel Vietnam War link
Global Conflict Tracker Instability in Afghanistan link
Wikipedia 2003 invasion of Iraq link
Trading Economics Ukraine Population link
Donate To Ukraine Links
United24 link
Come Back Alive link
Nova Ukraine link
Razom link
The $1K Project for Ukraine link
Hospitallers link
Social Media, Blog, podcast and other links
LinkedIn Link
Blog Link
YouTube Link
Anchor Link
Spotify Link
My Amazon author page Link
My Twitter Link
My Medium link jonathanrileywriter.medium.com
My PayPal link paypal.me/JonathanRiley630
Why the War in Ukraine is Russia’s to Lose Blog link and medium link