Yet, as was the case in America’s most disastrous counterinsurgency war, Vietnam, the nation-building programs in both Afghanistan and Iraq have foundered, and for many of the same litany of reasons they failed in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Americans and their allies continue to win virtually all of the combat engagements, but cannot break the will of their adversaries, or cut off their access to sanctuaries and a never-ending supply of new recruits. The Brits describe military counterinsurgency operations in these wars as “mowing the lawn.” It always grows back, and must be mowed again and again.
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