Yesterday marked the day we left the Graveyard of Empires It felt so long and I totally forgot we were still there. When the Vietnam war started in 1955 we didn't enter it until 1964. The war came to an end in 1975 and we were in Afghanistan longer then that. I feel like we will be talking about our time in Afghanistan at the end of the decade and look back on it as Vietnam 2.0.

The chaotic exit from Afghanistan can be perhaps seen as somewhat reminiscent of the fall of Saigon in 1975, but, other than that (and it's length) Afghanistan cannot be compared to Vietnam, and it is somewhat lazy to do so.  They couldn't have been more different. And one of the main differences is the effect of the two wars on the American people, and the Vietnam war had a far, far more devastating effect (and I mean no disrespect whatsoever to people who lost loved ones in Afghanistan). Due primarily to the draft. And to the overriding political climate of the time. You yourself said of Afghanistan you "totally forgot we were still there". A laissez-faire attitude, if I may say so, and one no doubt shared by many. TRUST ME, TRUST ME, TRUST ME, while the Vietnam War was going on, NOBODY, ever, EVER "forgot" we were there. EVER. Big, big difference.

It's surreal that it's finally over. I, too, for many years forgot we were still there; I think because other major domestic issues/events have sprung up in the past two decades that, after a while, the war was put on the back burner as a news topic. So I agree that Vietnam & Afghanistan are apples to oranges.

When I see the years "2001 - 2021", I think of how Millennials came of age during the war, and now Zers will come of age post-war. I can't help but think we are now entering a new era for the US.

It's surreal that it's finally over. I, too, for many years forgot we were still there; I think because other major domestic issues/events have sprung up in the past two decades that, after a while, the war was put on the back burner as a news topic. So I agree that Vietnam & Afghanistan are apples to oranges.

When I see the years "2001 - 2021", I think of how Millennials came of age during the war, and now Zers will come of age post-war. I can't help but think we are now entering a new era for the US.


Therein lies another difference between Vietnam and Afghanistan. Despite one incredible newsworthy event after another in the 60s and 70s, from the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King to the moon landing, Vietnam was NEVER put on the back burner. In fact, with MLK being an outspoken peace activist, and RFK campaigning as a candidate who would end the war, it could even say their murders were related to Vietnam. Likewise the Kent State massacre in 1970. The students were fired upon while participating in an anti Vietnam War protest. And some weren't even participating, they were passing through and got caught in the gunfire.

It's surreal that it's finally over. I, too, for many years forgot we were still there; I think because other major domestic issues/events have sprung up in the past two decades that, after a while, the war was put on the back burner as a news topic. So I agree that Vietnam & Afghanistan are apples to oranges.

When I see the years "2001 - 2021", I think of how Millennials came of age during the war, and now Zers will come of age post-war. I can't help but think we are now entering a new era for the US.


It's funny, I'm a core Gen Z'er, and I will come of age after the war. The 2020s definitely is a new era.

While I'm glad we got out, it was a historically horrific exit from Biden. And he also left hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies stranded when a week ago, he told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he was gonna get "all of them out" (which is now false). And let's not forget those 13 U.S. service members who were murdered by an ISIS-K suicide bomber at the airport.

20 years later, the Taliban (the same group who harbored Osama Bin Laden before and after 9/11) is now in control of Afghanistan and is likely to become a terrorist safe haven for Al-Qaeda and ISIS fighters.

America and the world is now less safe on the upcoming 20th anniversary of 9/11.

The most sickening part of this whole debacle is how liberal/neocon interventionists have tried to use selective outrage to morally justify continuation of war. The US military slaughtered thousands of random civilians throughout this ridiculous war, it enabled systematic sexual abuse of little boys, and wasted millions of dollars trying to train unmotivated allies.

They never have to answer for the children blown to pieces by US airstrikes this past week, no media talking head, whether CNN, msnbc, or Fox News is showing that tragedy, they can shove it where the sun don't shine with the fake tears, their job is to sell war to the populace. >:(