I think the analogy holds, in its broadest terms. As Beau said, it's a political loss, but the political situation was similar. We used our military might to prop up a highly corrupt government. I don't think of the analogy corresponding to a military loss at all -- it's about a rapid political collapse that requires a impromptu, disorganized military evacuation.
I also disagree with him on it as establishing an American Empire -- I think it's that our country fundamentally does not understand how to build a polity that is not like ourselves. Our military leaders really only only understand how to build a modern system army. You know, the kind that takes billions of dollars and high levels of commitment from volunteer soldiers. What they need is a much cheaper army, built like US during the Civil War, or maybe like modern Colombia. Drones are cool but sometimes you just need armed men to stand in a line.
Similarly, we tried nation building. But Afghanistan has never been a nation. The model we should have tried was a confederation of tribes, instead we gave them a President and tried to build central authority, because that's easier to understand. The only way to make them like us is the tried and true century of colonialism. But even the British Raj never bothered, because there's nothing there really worth fighting over.
How not a nation is Afghanistan? Well, in the past 100 years, Afghanistan has had 25 different national flags. The new Taliban is promising that they're kinder and gentler, that they no longer see the world in black and white. Well, this is their flag:
![[Image: Flag_of_Taliban.svg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Flag_of_Taliban.svg)
I also disagree with him on it as establishing an American Empire -- I think it's that our country fundamentally does not understand how to build a polity that is not like ourselves. Our military leaders really only only understand how to build a modern system army. You know, the kind that takes billions of dollars and high levels of commitment from volunteer soldiers. What they need is a much cheaper army, built like US during the Civil War, or maybe like modern Colombia. Drones are cool but sometimes you just need armed men to stand in a line.
Similarly, we tried nation building. But Afghanistan has never been a nation. The model we should have tried was a confederation of tribes, instead we gave them a President and tried to build central authority, because that's easier to understand. The only way to make them like us is the tried and true century of colonialism. But even the British Raj never bothered, because there's nothing there really worth fighting over.
How not a nation is Afghanistan? Well, in the past 100 years, Afghanistan has had 25 different national flags. The new Taliban is promising that they're kinder and gentler, that they no longer see the world in black and white. Well, this is their flag:
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto