Proxy War Similarities: Vietnam and Afghanistan

In what specific way can the Soviet Union's role in Afghanistan by compared with the United States' role in Vietnam?

The war in Afghanistan and the war in Vietnam have one key similarity; they were both proxy wars. The Soviet Union's role while present in Afghanistan the exact role America played while in Vietnam. The war in Vietnam was really America carrying out their political and military hostility in the country of Vietnam. The Soviet Union was actually the country that was supporting the supporter Vietnamese people and fighters, even though they possessed anger towards the country of the United States.

The analogy I use to describe these two wars is that of a proximity mine. You place these mines in locations and wait to detonate them from a distant area.
You place a mine somewhere, or a country enters another neutral country. Vietnam, for example, and another country detonate the mine; much like the Soviet Union supports the Vietnams fighting the USA. Its not actually close range but an approximate location used later.

The United States supporting Afghanistan rebels while they were directly at war with Russia is the same thing. The United States was the third country fighting the war and they weren’t about to back down, instead they supported. The Afghan rebels were fighting Russia, but the third party was the United States. A ''Triangle'' was created that was composed of anger all over.
Fighting techniques, such as the extensive use of guerrilla warfare carried out by the Vietnamese fighters is similar to those Mujahidin guerrillas. This very face-to faces fighting. It shows the extent of how personal theses wars were, even though they were proxy wars. There was no blitzkrieg used like in WWII, instead it was combat and brutal fighting. Although the fighting was brutal and man-on-man, there were still tanks, aircraft and equipment used against the Afghan Rebels, as well as the veterans fighters in the jungle.

These wars caused disturbances back home in the original fighting countries, such as the USA while in Vietnam. It showed the world that the degree of devastation was raging on in local countries because the authoritative figures were over in another country.


--SaraH