“How reliable an ally?”: Surveying American power and credibility after the fall of Saigon—and Kabul
| Author | Asa McKercher |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020221115438 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Lesson of History |
Lesson of History
International Journal
2022, Vol. 77(1) 112–124
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/00207020221115438
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“How reliable an ally?”:
Surveying American power
and credibility after the fall of
Saigon—and Kabul
Asa McKercher
Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, ON, Canada
Abstract
The withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, and the subsequent collapse of the
Western-backed Afghan government in August 2021, raised doubts in the United
States and abroad about the limits and credibility of American power. For some
observers, the situation seemed to parallel the fall of the South Vietnamese regime in
April 1975. Given the comparisons being drawn between Saigon and Kabul, this brief
paper examines a series of Canadian diplomatic reports produced in the wake of the
events in South Vietnam. Addressing the question of how reliable the United States was
as an ally, the conclusions drawn in these reports should give some pause to
doomsaying about US security commitments. Although the contemporary situation
differs from that of the mid-1970s, Canadian observers recognized that American
power rested on a firm foundation.
Keywords
Afghanistan, American power, Vietnam, nation-building, counterinsurgency
The August 2021 collapse of the Afghan government and the capture of the vast
majority of Afghanistan by the Taliban raised considerable questions about the limits of
American power. Many op-ed writers, talking heads, and members of the think tank
Corresponding author:
Asa McKercher, Department of History, Royal Military College of Canada, History, 13 General Crerar
Crescent, Kingston, Ontario K7K 7B4, Canada.
Email: asa.mckercher@rmc-cmr.ca
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