The military stacked bodies in both of those conflicts. I know it’s cool to run around yelling that we got beat by farmers but the reality was very different. The South Vietnamese government fell because the people wanted it to fall. We were the only thing holding it up. The minute we left the majority of the people made their will known. The same thing occurred in Afghanistan. People want to think the Taliban were hiding in caves and fighting us with farmers. But they acted and operated as a government in exile with their base in Pakistan. They had professional fighting units that infiltrated along the mountains and came down to fight anywhere in the country. (Sounding familiar yet?) Then at the end it turns out we were again, the only thing holding the government up. The people were literally just waiting for us to leave.

And in both conflicts the US military consistently won their engagements. This is not something you’re going to win on the battlefield. This is something you win with massive movements of people.