Afghanistan and Beyond

The Taliban only wishes to rule Afghanistan. They have never tried to rule in any other place, and have never expressed a desire to rule in any other place.

They likely favor genocide against all non-Muslims within Afghanistan however. Shortly before 9/11 they started requiring non-Muslims to wear prominent yellow badges on their clothing.


al-Qa'ida and Islamic State are the groups who wish to conquer the entire world (and impose that same genocide on non-Muslims worldwide).

The Taliban has in the past allowed al-Qa'ida to use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack the rest of the world.

We spent over $2 trillion.
We sacrificed over 2,300 American lives to invade a country where Bin Laden was never, nowhere, to be found. Bush said he had no interest in capturing him. Obama’s team found him in a house just down the road from Pakistan’s “West Point”. Who woulda guessed!
WE are the invaders. The Taliban are not invaders — they’re Afghans — it’s their country! They’re religious nuts. We know what that looks like — we have our own!
What a tragic mess. Defund the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex, defund the NSA, defund Homeland Security. They sent our young troops to their deaths. Shame! 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia! Not Afghanistan, not Iraq, not Iran. How come Bandar Bush didn’t attack the Saudis? Oh. Right. Fill ‘er up!
Once again, we have been defeated by an army with no bomber planes, no destroyers, no missiles, no helicopters, no napalm — just a bunch of guys in pickup trucks. We haven’t won an actual war in the defense of this country since WWII.
76 years ago today.
Today is VJ-Day — Victory Over Japan Day. August 15, 1945. (Thank you Uncle Lornie for sacrificing your life.)
Today, 76 years later, is the day the U. S. lost the Afghanistan War. God bless our troops. May our troops forgive us.
Much condolences and love to all families who lost loved ones in this disgustingly sad war.
Michael Moore

Karzai has fled Afghanistan.

edgarblythe-

Where did he go?

I just saw a headline but didn't get to hear the story.

A senior interior ministry official told Reuters news agency that Ghani left for Tajikistan. (Aljazeera)

Tajikistan

34 cities taken in 9 days is very impressive, the Americans could learn a thing or two from the Taliban, what a waste of 1000's of lives and 20 years.

edgarblythe-

Do most of the people living in Afghanistan want the Taliban in control?

Do these people wish girls and women to be hidden away? If so, why do they feel that way?

Why do the leaders of the Taliban want women to be hidden away and for a cruel society?

The Taliban represent the the indigenous people of Afghanistan. Obviously they have popular support from the indigenous people you don't see interviewed on the BBC (which has a Western slant). If they didn't have popular support, they wouldn't be able to take over so quickly.

I think there is a real disconnect between the way Americans think and the way indigenous Afghanis think. Americans assume that indigenous tribes from Afghanistan want to give up their traditional ways of living to become American.

This doesn't seem to be true.

This is from AlJazeera today: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/8/15/kabul-residents-withdraw-money-flee-city-as-taliban-advances

Hundreds of Kabul residents rushed to banks to withdraw money from their accounts, as Taliban fighters entered the city on Sunday demanding the unconditional surrender of the central government.

Afghans and foreigners alike also raced to exit the city, signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan.

Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings.

The Taliban have the power.

Think of the Mafia, do you think the restaurant owner wants to pay them protection money?

The Taliban are considerably stronger than the Mafia, because they have religion behind them which inspires fanaticism.

Tony Soprano didn’t have many suicide bombers working for him.

Many people in Afghanistan are poorly educated and/or illiterate. They rely on the Imams of the Taliban to tell them what’s in the Koran.

The Taliban don’t see themselves as cruel, they believe they’re carrying out God’s wishes.

Not to mention the money spent: "In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO over nearly 20 years to build up Afghan security forces."

Mame-

Withdraw their life savings and go where?

Withdraw their life savings denominated in what currency?

Do the homes of much of the population constitute their life savings?

What do those who own small businesses do?

Those are all good questions. One wonders if they'll even be able to get their hands on their money (likely in their currency), given there's so many of them. I suspect they'll go just about anywhere. Any of the neighbouring "stans" (Uzbekistan, Turkestan, etc). They're going to move quickly because the Taliban are at the outskirts of the city and, who knows, may prevent people from leaving.

The Taliban are a brutal, authoritarian and oppressive group. You should read a little online about them.

I don't know the answers to your other two questions. Here's the Wikipedia link to them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban

ALJAZEERA is a good newspaper for information about what's going on and it's free. You should sign up. In the days to come, your questions may be answered.

We can't nation build elsewhere against the will of whatever traditionally controls the people. To try mobilizes most of the population against you. All of our wars over there have not just murdered millions but with each successive war we radicalize more against us. It's for energy and minerals, the private motivation of our would-be nation builders anyway. Did you notice that Trump seized oil wells in Syria and Biden keeps them. The rights of women and such civil rights issues were always secondary in the scheme of conquest.

edgarblythe-

Can you cite any articles or other sources stating that Trump seized oil wells in Syria and that Biden keeps them?

I agree with Edgar.

I also want to point out the colonialism being expressed on this thread. The idea is that White People need to to save indigenous women feom indigenous men. That narrative has always made me uncomfortable.

If the goal is to force Western values on indigenous peoples... I can see why so many people choose to support the Taliban.

White people who have never set foot in Afghanistan and know nothing about the language or culture are passing judgement on traditional customs... it is easy to see why this is ridiculous.

It was in the news when Trump did it. If Biden gave them back that would have been in the news but wasn't.