Sunday, October 11, 2009

AFGHANISTAN ISN'T VIETNAM, VIETNAM IS AFGHANISTAN

BRIAN WILLIAMS:  You're -- famously, you have a Master's and Ph.D. from the Wilson School at Princeton and, famously, for your Ph.D. you wrote about Vietnam.  How often is that in your mind?  How often is it referenced as you sit down now to talk about the fight in Afghanistan?

GENERAL PETRAEUS:  Very little in our internal councils, frankly.

WILLIAMS:  Should it be?

PETRAEUS:  Well, I think, you know, again, this is one of those cases where Afghanistan is not Vietnam; it's Afghanistan, and that's hard enough. Iraq was not Vietnam.  Iraq was Iraq. In some cases, you can say, well, the context is different because we went through Vietnam or we went through some other experience.

October 2nd 2009, "First Draft of History," Sponsored by Atlantic Magazine, The Newseum, Washington, DC. Sphere: Related Content

Map of Afghani Tribal Areas Bordering Pakistan




Slide show of Eastern Afghanistan discrete tribal areas. Each tribe, is divided into clans, then sub-clans, and finally, large extended families. Sphere: Related Content