Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts Parallels with the Past — How the Soviets Lost in Afghanistan, How the Americans Are Losing

A nation must think before it acts.

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Orbis

Parallels with the Past — How the Soviets Lost in Afghanistan, How the Americans Are Losing

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Abstract

This article assesses seven startling and unsettling similarities between Soviet strategies and tactics in Afghanistan during their Afghan war of 1979–1989 and American coalition strategies and tactics in Afghanistan since October 2001. It concludes with the implications of this dynamic. In particular, the similarities between Soviet and U.S. approaches to Afghanistan that focus on key population centers, reconciliation/reintegration, and the development of “Afghan” solutions to a variety of security concerns are extremely disturbing and, we believe, should be the focus of national attention and debate.

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