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The US also came into those countries with massive reconstruction funds. Injecting tons of money buys a certain amount of loyalty, especially from anyone in tho
by api 3y ago
The US also came into those countries with massive reconstruction funds. Injecting tons of money buys a certain amount of loyalty, especially from anyone in those countries who did not support the previous regime or had fallen out of love with it.
We also promised them protection and trade and for some reason generally made good on that.
We didn’t do that with Iran or any of those other countries we messed with during the Cold War. In fact we seemed to not even really care much what happened after the coup. The only objective was to contain communism, so as long as whatever thing took power was not communist it was fine. It didn’t matter if they were monsters or even if they were even more anti-American than the previous regime as long as there wasn’t a hint of Soviet ideology.
We totally overreacted to communism to the point of actually building up more determined and ideologically consistent enemies.
- WalterBright 3y agoWe "injected" incredible amounts of money into Iraq and Afghanistan.
- illys 3y agoYes, but the Afghan "elite" did not commit to the reconstruction plan, they just behaved like to drain as much money as possible to their clans. Nothing serious was ever built and everything collapsed as soon as the withdrawal started.
- Mlller 3y agoYes, but somehow it worked in a not-so-tangible way. Germany for one apparently gave much more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_reparations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_reparations than it got out of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#Expenditures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#Expenditures in reverse. Imagine the allies had extracted much more wealth from Afghanistan or the Irak than they have put into it – itʼs inconceivable. Slightly alternative explanation for West Germany, combining what others have said: - First stage: The allies under US leadership were running the country anyway, they did it well and there was sufficient cooperation by Germans, for whom the Germany that was defeated represented an entity utterly discredited on account of the most horrible crimes against humanity. - Second stage: The feeling “the Americans are actually on our side – defeating us they have liberated us and then helped us to a new state in which we can live better than ever before, plus they are protecting us from the USSR” became more or less mainstream. (The experience in East Germany was completely different of course.) So I think the most important factor was that American victory and American predominance were associated with liberation and freedom.