Viet Nam all over again

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Yeah...except it isn't.

In Vietnam our military leadership was incompetent, our civilian population turned on the soldiers, and our government ran the war from Washington.

Today, Washington still makes *beep* ups every now and then (i.e. "let's fire McChrystal in the middle of a war"), but they did replace him with possibly one of the greatest generals this country has ever seen, General David Petraeus. The majority of our civilian population seems to support us, with the exception of the vocal Left which claims to "support the troops, by bringing them home", despite the fact that we willingly enlisted to do just what we're doing. Our leadership in-theatre is pretty good though, and we're adapting continuously to fight and win this war, not just rack up kills.

So, similar to Vietnam from a distance, but completely different when you get close.

Hello? One thing you're forgetting. Vietnam didn't launch an attack that killed over 3000 U.S. Civilians you idiot! Hello? Anyone in your brain? So you think we should have just left the TALIBAN alone? What planet are you from?

Dr. Kila Marr was right. Kill the Crystalline Entity.

In general I think NATO should maintain military presence in Afghanistan in long term, but there are some downsides to that.
Talibans are extremely dangerous islamic extremists and are posing bigger danger to neighboring countries like Pakistan, because talibans are spreading all over the region and more and more people from the local population are joining them for a number of different reasons. Pakistani army are aided and supported by the West, but the fight is getting worse and they struggle unsuccessfully to keep them out of the big cities.
Plus, Afghanistan is, or was the world's biggest heroin producer, with prices starting from 3000 $ per kilo, and that same amount can be sold for 100 000 $ in the West. There are programs who try to encourage locals to start growing different cultures and destroy oppium fields where possible, but you can understand it's hard to break this milleniums old habit from the people.
Afghanistan has very large uninhabited (or poorly inhabited) areas and it's very hard for the locals to make a living, so the problem is very specific and needs a revolutionized solution.
The problem is that the growing military presence and fights in the region through the years, caused the talibans to gain more and more support from the other peoples in the region who are joining their cause against the western invaders.
The commander of US and NATO forces in the region said last summer that allies need a new strategy in Afghanistan, but Obama and his advisors sacked him from their offices in Washington...

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I was immediately struck by the similarity in geography. That opening shot of the soldiers being ferried in by chopper looks just like the scene in Apocalypse Now when Capt Willard is being choppered in. Green valley surrounded by towering mountains, only the mountains are denuded of veg.

I was pro afghan war before watching this but think we're screwed now. Bring our boys home now.

Vietnam is one word. Brought to you by a citizen of the Uni Ted Sta Tes of Amer Ica.

In that shorter time in Vietnam, we lost 50,000 men. In this longer time in both Iraq and Afghanistan we've lost around 5,000.