In JFK's era we were focused as our primary mission on stopping the spread of the Sino-Soviet sphere of influence. That focus totally biased how we thought about and how we approached the many nationalist movements that took place in the contested spaces of the "third world."

Today we are excessively focused on AQ in a very similar way; and equally it has placed a bias on our understanding and our approaches to the many nationalist movements underway in the contested spaces and populaces.

When one seeks to leverage someone else's nationalist insurgent energy for their own larger purposes, it rarely works out well for the people who's movement has been hijacked by these outside forces. But there is indeed a "rhyme" between to two eras; Now to find a better "reason" that has been largely missing. (as in "no rhyme nor reason...")