Obama says Afghanistan won’t be another Vietnam, rejects calls for US to cut losses, withdraw
By APTuesday, December 1, 2009
Obama vows Afghanistan will be no Vietnam
WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Barack Obama is vowing that the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan will not turn into another Vietnam.
In a speech at the U.S. Military Academy Tuesday night, Obama rejected the argument that the U.S. should cut its losses and get out.
He said the comparison with Vietnam “depends upon a false reading of history.” He said that unlike Vietnam, the U.S. has been joined by a coalition of 43 nations in Afghanistan and is not facing a broad-based popular insurgency.
The president argued that the most important difference with Vietnam is that “the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target” for al-Qaida extremists.
Tags: Afghanistan, Asia, Barack Obama, Central Asia, North America, Southeast Asia, United States, Vietnam, West Point
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