Westerners-when they give attentian to the bitterstruggle raging in Afghanistan-commonly characterize itas "Russia's Vietnam."ı The characterization carries withit same misleading intellectual baggage, stuff damaged intransit during America's defeat in Vietnam: the thesis thatthe use of military force in the Third World by a superpower inevitably runs counter to its own interests. Currentlythe apparent stalemate between Soviet forces and the mujahedeen offers the most convincing proof for this thesis;however, soothsayers run high risks of error by basingtheir predictions of Soviet failure on American defeat,2The key to understanding the fallacy of thinking thatAfghanistan is Russia's Vietnam lies in understanding thetraditional political cultures of Vietnam and Afghanistan.The parallels and contrasts that exist between the two invasions both strongly suggest that military force can besuccessfully used in conjunction with a correct understanding of the local political culture. T

Westerners-when they give attentian to the bitterstruggle raging in Afghanistan-commonly characterize itas "Russia's Vietnam."ı The characterization carries withit same misleading intellectual baggage, stuff damaged intransit during America's defeat in Vietnam: the thesis thatthe use of military force in the Third World by a superpower inevitably runs counter to its own interests. Currentlythe apparent stalemate between Soviet forces and the mujahedeen offers the most convincing proof for this thesis;however, soothsayers run high risks of error by basingtheir predictions of Soviet failure on American defeat,2The key to understanding the fallacy of thinking thatAfghanistan is Russia's Vietnam lies in understanding thetraditional political cultures of Vietnam and Afghanistan.The parallels and contrasts that exist between the two invasions both strongly suggest that military force can besuccessfully used in conjunction with a correct understanding of the local political culture. T