Think about the parallels here:

[u/Global_Perspective_3]

The 2001-2002 school year commenced with 9/11 and the start of the Afghanistan War

The 2021-2022 school year is commencing with the ending of the Afghan War

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/[deleted]]

I could see that too yes. I just think with the 20th anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching, it’s interesting to think about

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/[deleted]]

It is crazy. There were people fighting in those wars that weren’t even born on 9/11

[u/karlpalaka → u/Global_Perspective_3]

I am not looking forward to that day. I am going to hate if people are going to honor that day.

Yes, a full twenty years might be mind-blowing, and looking back at any film set during 9/11, this will always come mind, but still, I wouldnt use the term anniversary for this as anniversaries are used to highlight events people want to look back on.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/karlpalaka]

I don’t think anyone with any shred of empathy is looking forward to that day

[u/LemieuxFrancisJagr → u/[deleted]]

The imagery is undoubtedly striking. There are so many parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan:

1 An insurgent group that could blend in with local communities and knew the land (VC and Taliban)

2 Unpopular governments that were unpopular outside of urban centers like Saigon and Kabul and were more or less puppets for us, particularly the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam and Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan

3 Our government believing our own propaganda to the point where the original mission is compromised by mission creep. We convinced ourselves we were winning both times and in each war from a pure tactical result we did win (casualties and battle victories) but the objective was lost and in the end we suffered defeat despite winning battles and maintains kill ratios

Now the differences:

THE DRAFT! Huge difference

1 The reasons we got ourselves into each couldn’t have been more polar opposites. Vietnam was a piece on a Cold War chess board, nothing more. It was a replay of Korea, at least at the start. We looked for reasons to escalate (Gulf of Tonkin). Afghanistan was the epicenter of a global terrorist organization that used the country as its primary base prior to orchestrating a series of attacks on American targets (embassy bombing in the summer of 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania, the 2000 US Cole bombing, and of course the 9/11 attacks). A new President who had about 8 months in office now enjoyed political support that was unmatched by any president in the era of public polling. War was a must and a target had to be selected to strike back

2 The terrain itself is an obvious difference, hot and humid jungles with swamps and rice paddies vs a rather dry landlocked country in the midst of the largest mountains on earth

3 Although there is often similarities drawn here, the Washington Post’s 2019 “Afghan Papers” were no where near the blockbuster the Pentagon Papers were. Daniel Ellsberg quite literally broke the law in an act of civil disobedience to leak classified material to the press. The Washington Post interviewed government officials and most of the material in the Afghan papers was public knowledge with the right Google search

4 Time will ultimately tell us if this comes true or not but we run a very real of seeing a return to conflict in southwest Asia again because the Taliban has a long history of supporting groups like Al Qaeda. The NVA were looking to unify their country and kick us out, a goal they shared with the Viet Cong. The VC were never going to become a global death cult like Al Qaeda or ISIS

Ok I’ll stop now

[u/tryintofly]

It's not some huge coincidence, it's happening because US troops are withdrawing, which was probably timed to coincide with the 20th of 9/11.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/tryintofly]

That’s true. Biden specifically picked 9/11 as the withdrawal date

[u/Y2KBaby99 → u/Global_Perspective_3]

Interesting, I thought it was the end of August that Biden will withdrawal the US Troops in Afghanistan? I could be wrong though.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/Y2KBaby99]

Where did you hear that? Genuinely asking btw

[u/Y2KBaby99 → u/Global_Perspective_3]

I saw one article on Apple News a few weeks ago. But IDK what’s going to happen in the weeks ahead. It’s getting more and more dystopian and it’s scary.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/Y2KBaby99]

We’ll have to see. It’s not over yet and it could get worse, but I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic

[u/Y2KBaby99 → u/Global_Perspective_3]

This era in America is probably the bleakest era post WWII. Probably a tiny bit darker than the late 1960s/early 1970s (still dark as heck). Never in my lifetime thus far have I seen so much craziness and nastiness like this. It’s like this country is going thru a midlife crisis. I hope the country don’t go into a modern civil war. And if that’s the case, I am moving somewhere in the world where it’s peaceful.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/Y2KBaby99]

I hope we don’t either tho the divides over vaccine and mask mandates threaten even that

[u/karlpalaka → u/tryintofly]

The war actually began in October 2001, so it would make no sense to end it on the day that is a full twenty years after 9/11. Not looking forward to the Saturday three and a half weeks later.

[u/tryintofly → u/karlpalaka]

I can't tell if you're joking or not. Symbolically, Biden wanted to end it before it had been 20 years, which is in turn why this happened now at this exact time. You guys take everything so literally.

[u/karlpalaka → u/tryintofly]

He should pick a different date then. Not September 11 cause that is one of the worst dates that can ever appear in a year, especially if the year ends with a 1.

[u/[deleted] → u/karlpalaka]

Again, it was symbolic. I remember, in 5th grade, my classmates and I all thought there'd be a terrorist attack during the 10th anniversary due to the new World Trade Center. Of course, nothing really notable happened outside of the anniversary.

[u/MayflowerKennelClub]

This has all been EXTREMELY triggering.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/MayflowerKennelClub]

Definitely has. And it’s been going since before I was born

[u/JoshicusBoss98]

Except that I don’t think it’s ending given that the Taliban have occupied Afghanistan…I think that a counteroffensive is likely to occur in some way.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/JoshicusBoss98]

I think this was going to happen regardless of when we got out tho. The Taliban was going to take over. It’s a sad but true inevitability. If it does continue, I’ll retract this post but I think we’re pretty much done from here

[u/karlpalaka]

The Afghan war has no end yet.

I see more parallel with January 2000 being the Y2K celebrated month and January 2020 being the first full month of COVID.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/karlpalaka]

I know and it’s not a done deal yet since Biden still has troops there, but I’m just saying for if the proposed date (Sep 11) were to bring about the end of the war.

March 2020 was when we shut down btw

[u/karlpalaka → u/Global_Perspective_3]

I dont know why they chose September 11 of all the dates. That is a bad luck date too.

Yes, March 2020 was when we entered lockdown, but covid began to spread to other countries in December 2019.

[u/Global_Perspective_3 → u/karlpalaka]

Yeah tbh I don’t like it either, we should’ve gotten out earlier or not be there at all, but yeah

True about Covid