Many have compared America’s defeat in Afghanistan to Vietnam. But the comparison is unfair to Vietnam. The U.S. became involved in Vietnam primarily to counter the communist threat to Southeast Asia. In 1955 President Eisenhower placed the communist threat to Vietnam in the broader context of the threat to the entire region. He said a communist victory in Vietnam would lead to other communist takeovers in Southeast Asia, with countries toppled like a row of dominoes.
Southeast Asian leaders reported that our deploying combat troops to Vietnam beginning in May 1965 greatly encouraged their successful resistance to communist threats. The …
