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Afghanistan

lobosrul5 said:
It would, certainly be more fair to blame "the west" in general than the USA. What we're supposed to fund the costs of keeping the Taliban at bay in perpetuity in a country thats been given two decades of support and training but still cannot do it themselves? How about the UN take over?

I really am of two minds of the whole situation. I feel terrible for everyone caught up in it... but geez was the US military supposed to patrol there forever?
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Probably something that should have been considered before invading, huh? Looking for someone to be left holding the bag after the fact doesn't exactly scream competence.

The fact that the US had no clearly articulated victory condition and plan for how this whole thing might actually have a happy ending is very damning of this whole debacle.
 
Lukraak_Sisser said:
You are ignoring the fact that Ukraine is under assault by a foreign power seeking to take over their country and forcibly changing their culture into something pro-Russia, supported by a relatively small part of Ukrainians
Whereas in Afghanistan the west was the assaulting foreign power seeking to alter their culture supported by a small group of Afghani.
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I question the premise. The Taliban is a Pakistan-backed gang that represents a small fraction of the Afghan people. If Muscovite scumbags from the DPR managed to seize Kiev, that wouldn't suddenly make them legitimate sovereigns of the Ukrainian people.
 
theprestige said:
I question the premise. The Taliban is a Pakistan-backed gang that represents a small fraction of the Afghan people. If Muscovite scumbags from the DPR managed to seize Kiev, that wouldn't suddenly make them legitimate sovereigns of the Ukrainian people.
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I don't think it would be correct to say the Taliban are 'Pakistan backed', the ISI were involved with their formation as an opposition to the soviet backed communist government in Afghanistan, but this does not mean that the Pakistan government was involved, nor does it appear there is any significant on-going support. There is a large ethnic overlap in that the Pashtuns who are the main supporters of the Taliban live on both sides of the Afghan / Pakistan border.

The Pashtuns represent about half of the Afghan population so it would not be true to say the Taliban represent a small fraction of the Afghan population. They came to power twice because they do have some popular support. They do have some support from Tajiks and Uzbeks and have tried to make alliance with the Shia Hazaras; unlike organisations like IS or affiliates that commonly attack Shia mosques the Taliban are actually protective of the Shia minority and recognise them as fellow Muslims; the taliban are more hostile to sunni extremist groups like IS that they have tried to eject from Afghanistan.
 
Planigale said:
I don't think it would be correct to say the Taliban are 'Pakistan backed', the ISI were involved with their formation as an opposition to the soviet backed communist government in Afghanistan, but this does not mean that the Pakistan government was involved,
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We don't have to think the Taliban represents Afghanistan, either. And it doesn't really change my point.


nor does it appear there is any significant on-going support.
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LOL
 
Blank said:
A minor setback for the Afganistans fledgling tourism industry. Truly an exiting place to visit:

3 Dead, several injured in a shooting incident targeting tourists
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Strange that it should be Bamiyan. That area is populated by Hazaras- almond-eyed descendants of Genghiz Khan's invading Mongols mixing with the local people- many of whom are also Shias. They are, then, ethnically and religiously no friends of the Pathan Taliban. I would have thought tourists would be more at risk in other areas of the country. (Kunduz, in the north, is the only place I experienced any hostility, for example.)
Presumably, this was infiltrators, but you would have thought the locals would have spotted them and raised the alarm.
A tragedy both for the deceased and for Afghanistan as well.
 
Cosmic Yak said:
Strange that it should be Bamiyan. That area is populated by Hazaras- almond-eyed descendants of Genghiz Khan's invading Mongols mixing with the local people- many of whom are also Shias. They are, then, ethnically and religiously no friends of the Pathan Taliban. I would have thought tourists would be more at risk in other areas of the country. (Kunduz, in the north, is the only place I experienced any hostility, for example.)
Presumably, this was infiltrators, but you would have thought the locals would have spotted them and raised the alarm.
A tragedy both for the deceased and for Afghanistan as well.
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Unclear who did this, just criminals? The most likely culprits are ISIS who are opposed to the Taliban (and Hazara's, and the Iranian Shia), the Taliban government of Afghanistan has said it will punish the guilty. It is clearly in no interest of the Afghan government to have tourists killed.

Following the Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan, ISKP has intensified its operations against the Hazara community. According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of Hazaras have been killed in suicide attacks in education centers, marketplaces, religious places, and on public transportation since the Taliban’s takeover. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 49 Hazaras have been killed just in the past three months. Besides targeted attacks that ISKP claimed responsibility for, there was also “mysterious targeting of Hazaras” by unidentified and unknown perpetrators, which has added to the complexity of the security crisis. Unclaimed attacks encourage the unknown perpetrators to continue committing crimes without being blamed.
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https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/the-plight-of-hazaras-under-the-taliban-government/
 
"A senior Taliban figure has urged the group’s leader to scrap education bans on Afghan women and girls, saying there is no excuse for them, in a rare public rebuke of government policy.

"Sher Abbas Stanikzai, political deputy at the Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in a speech on Saturday in southeastern Khost province.

"He told an audience at a religious school ceremony there was no reason to deny education to women and girls, “just as there was no justification for it in the past and there shouldn’t be one at all.”"

apnews.com

Taliban deputy tells leader there is no excuse for education bans on Afghan women and girls

A senior Taliban figure says the group's leader should scrap education bans on Afghan women and girls.
apnews.com apnews.com
 
arthwollipot said:
I won't hold my breath.
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Yeah, the kinder gentler Taliban predicated after the US pullout does not seem to have happened......
Only thing new about the new Taliaban is, so far, they have not given refuge to terroist groups like Al Qaida..they seem to get that is a losing proposition.
 
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