War:Similarities Between Afghanistan and Vietnam

More and more these days Afghanistan is being compared to Vietnam, and it is beginning to resemble this situation in the sixties more and more. Our initial attack on Afghanistan by use of the Shock and Awe strategy was quite similar to the bombing campaign conducted at the beginning of the conflict in Vietnam. The newest development in our involvement in Afghanistan is the expected deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This is reminiscent of the beginning of increased deployment of troops in 1965. The enemies the US faced in the Vietnam as well as in Afghanistan are using the same tactics of guerilla warfare, and they have a great advantage over the US troops due to their native knowledge of the environment. The US troops are attempting to even the playing field through using high tech weaponry to cut down the environmental edge enemy forces have on the US.
When President Bush invaded Afghanistan in 2001 there was use of the similar tactic as was used in Vietnam in 1965. This tactic was to launch a bombing campaign before ground troops were to take part in the fighting. This occurred in Afghanistan in 2001 with the bombing of Kabul and other select areas of Afghanistan. In 1965 US troops launched an extensive air campaign in Vietnam called “Operation Rolling Thunder”. These air strikes were then followed by active ground troops in the country of conflict.
To combat the tactics of the opposing force the US army has turned to technology in an attempt to give soldiers the edge against guerrilla forces who have an environmental advantage. In Vietnam the US military used Agent Orange in an attempt to cut down the advantages that the Vietcong would have on US forces by eliminating some of the thick natural vegetation in vietnam. In Afghanistan US troops are using the same advances in technology in an attempt to root out enemy troops hiding in caves. US troops have employed Infared scanning from the air in an attempt to see any power generator activity below earth. The US military has also developed a new type of bomb, the bunker buster, that penetrates deep into the earth's surface in an attempt to destroy buried or heavily fortified targets.
We are again seeing a link between the our involvement in Afghanistan and our involvement in Vietnam. Just recently (Dec. 2009) President Obama has agreed to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan upon request from his generals. There were about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan in October of 2009 according to US Central Command. This increase in troops will bring our troop count near 100,000. This is a massive change in the amount of troops and is similar to the increase of troops in Vietnam in 1968. The difference is in 1968 the troops were almost doubled.