The Afghan government was undone by its own corruption
As with Vietnam, an American client state was crippled by graft
IT LOOKED LIKE the fall of Saigon in 1975 on fast-forward: an American-backed army melting away, enemy fighters strolling into the presidential palace, desperate crowds mobbing the airport. But the similarities between Afghanistan and South Vietnam were not only superficial. Both states, built to please their American sponsors, had been hollowed out by one of the oldest diseases of governance: corruption.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Nation-gilding”
From the August 28th 2021 edition
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A good news story? Maybe