Twenty years of U.S. presence in the country has been turned upside down in just one month -- it's like watching a game of Othello.

I am reminded of the recorded footage from the last U.S. military transport plane in Vietnam, that citizens gathered the airport, and a U.S. soldier kicks down a civilian clinging to a plane from the sky.

I did not expect to see the same images in Afghanistan that I saw in Vietnam.

But still...

"Why is it that only the Japanese occupation has worked so well?"

I thought that.

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Vietnam (failed) for 18 years. Afghanistan (probably a failure) for 20 years.

In comparison, the Japanese occupation lasted only seven years -- that's how long the U.S. was able to create a country that could almost be called the 51st state of the United States.

If we can forget all about what is "pleasant" and what is "unpleasant," the Japanese archipelago looks like tetra pods that once obstructed Russia's southward policy and now obstructs China's Indo-Pacific expansion.

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Vietnam, Afghanistan and Japan.

I'm sure there are many things that could be said the difference, but I keep thinking, 'What would be one word for it?'