The news from Afghanistan seems to be a surprise to our government. As many of you know, I am a Vietnam vet. The administration in power back then seemed surprised at the quick take over by North Vietnam. I am puzzled by the fact our government was caught off guard by both events. The outcome of Vietnam was clear to me unless things changed by the time I had been in the country only a couple of months. In talking to veterans who served in Afghanistan, it was clear how that conflict would end.
In both cases, it was corruption that doomed our efforts. In Vietnam, I saw areas where the VC were in control with a better quality of life than government-controlled areas. The corruption, crimes against the people, starting at the very highest level in the country, doomed our efforts. It seemed anyone with any form of power collected tribute from those under them. A cop, military or civilian, directing traffic might demand a chicken from a farmer taking chickens to market. Sometimes the corruption was less visible, but you could always see its results; for example, vice president Nguyen Cao Ky fled Vietnam at the end of the war and bought a liquor store in California. His salary as vice president would not have been big enough to allow for purchasing a liquor store. It’s clear he was getting money from other sources.
The various administrations during the Vietnam War had to know about corruption. Why? I was just a low-grade enlisted man, but I could see the results of the ongoing corruption. An officer in the South Vietnamese Army would likely issue in order and then sat back and enjoy a cup of tea. How would he do that? He would issue an order, “Go take that hill.” He would then sit down with his tea or his cronies, but he wouldn’t go with his troops to take the hill. Most likely, money bought him his commission in the Army, so that was his leadership style. Enlisted men in the South Vietnamese Army were surprised when an American trainer, usually an officer, would say, “We will take that hill, and he would go right along with the men taking the hill.”
Why would a South Vietnamese enlisted man or an Afghan enlisted man fight when his commanding officer wouldn’t? That explains the collapse of both armies. I don’t understand why our leadership in both parties didn’t recognize there was no way to win because of the corruption. They aren’t, or they were not that dumb! I would like to know why they turned a blind eye to corruption. I left men I trained with killed or injured in Vietnam. When South Vietnam collapsed, I was angry. I have seen on TV Afghan veterans angry at the collapse of Afghanistan. The answer to my question is political. I heard the commanding general in Vietnam say, “We can’t do that. It’s too political.” He was saying that we would lose most of the officers in the Vietnamese Army if we cracked down on corruption because mostly officers were corrupt.
