The Vietnam war was fought on the theory that if Communism took hold there, there would be a domino effect and Asian country after Asian country would fall to Communism. It was a theory that proved to be wrong but was understandable in the context of the Cold War. So that was the reason given to the public and to young soldiers and at least initially was accepted.

Regarding Afghanistan, there is no theory because there is historical proof that if the Taliban have control of that country, they have and would again harbour, fund and support terrorist cells to go oversea to US, Europe and elsewhere to kill Westerners on mass scales.

Why don't the Taliban just operate in secret caves? Because this limits what you can do operationally overseas and your influence over society. It's much easier to implement your social policies and military strategies if you are actually the Government of a country as the Taliban once were.

So removing them from power, pinning them down in their caves and taking the fight up to them drains their resources and makes them fight for their survival and of course keeps them from regaining power in Afghanistan thus depriving terrorist groups of a sympathetic government. Apart from helping ordinary Afghans it also helps Europeans, many anti-militant Islamic Gulf states, Americans and Westerners in general to be significantly safer from attacks that would or could originate in their planning and execution from Afghanistan. It's worth the sacrifice and expense. President Bush once said we are fighting them over there so we dont have to fight them here (USA soil). I think Germans need to be aware that the same applies to them. The other consideration is NATO obligations. Americans sacrificed much to rid the world of Hitler and then Communism. West Germany, Berlin and in a sense all Germans have received much from others for their liberation from Nazism and Communism. Germans are now being asked to help others who have been oppressed and abused and to continue to meet their NATO obligations which in the past has benefited Germany greatly.

Originally Posted by Padre

The Vietnam war was fought on the theory that if Communism took hold there, there would be a domino effect and Asian country after Asian country would fall to Communism. It was a theory that proved to be wrong but was understandable in the context of the Cold War. So that was the reason given to the public and to young soldiers and at least initially was accepted.

Regarding Afghanistan, there is no theory because there is historical proof that if the Taliban have control of that country, they have and would again harbour, fund and support terrorist cells to go oversea to US, Europe and elsewhere to kill Westerners on mass scales.

Why don't the Taliban just operate in secret caves? Because this limits what you can do operationally overseas and your influence over society. It's much easier to implement your social policies and military strategies if you are actually the Government of a country as the Taliban once were.

So removing them from power, pinning them down in their caves and taking the fight up to them drains their resources and makes them fight for their survival and of course keeps them from regaining power in Afghanistan thus depriving terrorist groups of a sympathetic government. Apart from helping ordinary Afghans it also helps Europeans, many anti-militant Islamic Gulf states, Americans and Westerners in general to be significantly safer from attacks that would or could originate in their planning and execution from Afghanistan. It's worth the sacrifice and expense. President Bush once said we are fighting them over there so we dont have to fight them here (USA soil). I think Germans need to be aware that the same applies to them. The other consideration is NATO obligations. Americans sacrificed much to rid the world of Hitler and then Communism. West Germany, Berlin and in a sense all Germans have received much from others for their liberation from Nazism and Communism. Germans are now being asked to help others who have been oppressed and abused and to continue to meet their NATO obligations which in the past has benefited Germany greatly.

I'll add one more point you missed. The Domino theory that was proved wrong in Vietnam is proved correct in Afghanistan. As the Taliban have already attempted to extend their influance not only Afghanistan, but in Pakistan and the disputed Khashmir region between India and Pakistan. Even Iran had tighted it borders with Afghanistan out of fear of Taliban incursions into their country.

So this proves that they are not only capable of bring their oppressive regime to other countries but they are willing too. Another frightening fact is that the Taliban are NOT Afghani, most of the numbers come from the rural and isolated parts of Pakistan, the Arab world, and I am sorry to say a few westerners too.

Actually the Domino effect had its merits in Vietnam too.
The main reason why Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia had been so unpopular in Vietnam was because of the sheer number of Vietnamese people who died fighting against the Americans. Had the Vietnamese won a sweeping victory with little resistance from a weak South Vietnam, they just might as well have succeeded in Cambodia. After that, anything could have been possible.
Remember, there were Communist insurgencies in both Malaya and Indonesia at the time as well. You cannot ignore that.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Actually the Domino effect had its merits in Vietnam too.
The main reason why Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia had been so unpopular in Vietnam was because of the sheer number of Vietnamese people who died fighting against the Americans. Had the Vietnamese won a sweeping victory with little resistance from a weak South Vietnam, they just might as well have succeeded in Cambodia. After that, anything could have been possible.
Remember, there were Communist insurgencies in both Malaya and Indonesia at the time as well. You cannot ignore that.

You make a good point 13-R, but I what I subscribe to is that the success of communist activity in other Asian countries in 1960's - 1970's wasn't as dependent on Vietnam falling to the communists as first thought. Vietnam did fall but the domino effect didn't really kick in (for all sorts of reasons). That doesn't mean we shouldn't have supported South Vietnam, just that using the domino effect argument turned out not to be a true threat as first proposed by the Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson Administrations

Just saying, if North Vietnam managed to beat South Vietnam without too much trouble, the Soviet Union could have gotten rather excited about the potential of a Vietnam-Malaya-Indonesia link.
The USSR was already dumping a lot of resources into trying to court Indonesia over to its side (which explains the massive statues that are in Indonesia still today).
They could have had a lot more support in spreading to Cambodia and eventually being able to support the insurgencies in Malaya and Indonesia as well.
The counter argument would be that the Communists in Vietnam were more of a nationalist movement and therefore wasn't really interested in spreading beyond Vietnam. Then the counter argument to that would be, then why did they, after decades of warfare, even bother with Cambodia?

Mmarsh, Pakistan's north west frontier province is pretty much about as Afghanistan as it is Pakistan and that's where they get a lot of their recruits. Many of them grew up without their parents in camps and madrassas so it's difficult to say that they' were not Afghan, at least to begin with. At least in the beginning they seemed to be composed almost exclusively of Afghans and Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Al Qaeda and other similar organizations, and the Taliban's mounting casualties put a change in that.

Is the German KSK any good? I mean it's SF I'd assume Germany's doing well at war even though the Versailles treaty is still in effect for them.

The Versailles Treaty doesn't have an affect on them anymore.

It doesn't? Because I thought that still today Germany's not allowed to have a big military.