The goal was to prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist state supported by the Soviet Union. Vietnam became a communist country: that&#x27;s a clear cut Soviet win and US loss. That US was not able to translate its technical superiority in a victory is very interesting (including with regards to recent wars), but doesn&#x27;t change the outcome.<p>If you are talking about recent or ongoing wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or Syria), indeed the goals are much less clear, so it&#x27;s hard to see how anything currently being done is really helping.