Why are Asymmetrical wars, such as Iraq and Afghanistan so difficult to win?

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Why are Asymmetrical wars, such as Iraq and Afghanistan so difficult to win?

An asymmetrical war is one in which one of the parties is far more economically, technically and militarily advanced. In recent times more and more wars have become asymmetrical and the disputed theory of a “new war” includes asymmetrical wars as one of the main features that define it. Often we see these wars are picking up on the idea of a “clash of civilisation” where many people of the same culture often come together and conflict with those of different views. This can be seen with the Taliban and Al Qaeda and also with the USA and the UK. This is one of the main contributing factors to why asymmetrical wars, such as Afghanistan and Iraq are so difficult to win.

Firstly, wars such as the Iraq war and Afghanistan war are now against insurgency forces, rather than the traditional war with countries. Within these wars many civilians often get accidently hurt as Mark Curtis states in Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses “an estimated 10,000-50,000 people including soldiers and civilians have died in Iraq. An estimated 10,000 were civilians.” Asymmetrical wars ask for a different strategy than the military is used to. Fighting insurgency includes fighting the propaganda spread by these forces, and consequently winning the “hearts and minds” of the populace. One of the main reasons these wars are so hard to fight is that civilians often feel a sense of injustice and of course don’t like the notion of their country being invaded. Therefore, these people may often join the insurgents of feel sympathy and apathy for them consequently making it difficult for the stronger side of the war by hiding them and joining their “cause”.

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In Vietnam we saw the USA struggle to win the hearts and minds of the people. This had many contributing factors such as the use of napalm which had a massive effect on the local populace, including death, destruction of crops and destruction of their villages. This is evident in the picture of Kim Phuc who is shown running naked from the violent un-necessary napalm attack. This is one of the reasons why the people often turn against the invading force and therefore make the war a lot harder and longer. Countries still try to apply the ways in which ...

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