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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe are giving Afghanistan back to the Taliban
The Taliban, if it does agree to the talks with the U.S. that the U.S. so desperately wants, is in a position of power, as it is in today's Afghanistan. The Taliban control several areas in Afghanistan and its power is growing.
Karzai is both weak and corrupt. He's kept in place by American power and the American presence.
The U.S. thinks it can somehow forge a Taliban that rejects extremism through talks and negotiation. Or rather that's what they say. What the U.S. really wants, is a Taliban that will not collude with terrorists intent on hitting the west. It's a small pitiful goal that has shrunk from the grand goals of 12 years ago when the U.S. set out to remake Afghanistan in our image. The perpetual arrogant stupidity that we unwrap in one foreign adventure after another.
In addition, the Taliban, in a gesture of contempt is carrying out one attack after another on western forces and interests. That's how emboldened they are and that's how sure they are of American desperation.
12 years. 12 years for what?
Taliban hit NATO supply compound in Kabul, kill 6
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/02/3481127/taliban-hit-nato-kabul-supply.html#storylink=cpy
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PuraVidaDreamin
(4,101 posts)Could have never predicted that!
What a waste of so many resources, destroyed lives. It's our countries MO.
cali
(114,904 posts)RC
(25,592 posts)Advances in technology, such as drone target accuracy, so as to better the kill rate on wedding parties.
I can see the day when we find out nobody really respects the bully. Then we will pay dearly.
LuvNewcastle
(16,847 posts)We're arming Al Qaeda and God knows who else in Syria. Let's arm the Taliban too, while we're at it. After all, that's the major purpose of most of our wars -- making money for arms dealers and manufacturers.
idwiyo
(5,113 posts)bike man
(620 posts)remainder. All military and civilian personnel return home.
Do not put them on the foreign aid recipient list, and do not give them special trade agreements or 'most favored nation' status.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)A doomed adventure from start through today. AND WE'RE STILL THERE! Still fighting and dying for at least another year and a half.
I'll believe we are leaving when we are actually out.
cali
(114,904 posts)
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)markiv
(1,489 posts)I really did think 'it's different this time'
(it almost never is)
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)markiv
(1,489 posts)all those lives lost is nothing to joke about
and we went into Indo China, to save France's colonialism (I thought WWII paid our debt to them from 1776) We were doing France's bidding to save Michillan's rubber source
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)
Javaman
(62,531 posts)many many people made lots and lots of money.
money from defense contracts, money from drugs, money from friends, money from minerals, etc...
many a billionaire was made during this war.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)...just recently I met with a friend who served as a contractor in Afghanistan for the better part of the past two years. He was an NGO who had a lot of contact with the locals and came away with an interesting take on what's going on. In short...these people are tired. They're tired of Americans, Russians, Pakistanis (non Pushtans), Indians, Saudis and a lot of the other players who have turned that country into a perpetual battlefield. No one wins these wars...it just prolongs the agony and sets the stage for the next one.
Like it or not, the Taliban ARE the Afghan people. They represent the Pushtan people far moreso than the corrupt Karzai regime in Kabul and this is a major reason why they are such a potent force in the rural areas and have now infiltrated into the cities. We may not like who they are or what they represent but they have popular support and are just biding their time for us to pull out so they can reassert their rule over the country. It's the failure of the Karzai regime to deliver a lot of basic services that led to the Taliban's resurgence and the U.S. ended up being his private police force. Enough is enough...
cali
(114,904 posts)And yes, the Taliban may represent the Pashtun people- or at least Pashtun men, but there are also Tajikis, Hazbaras, Uzbeks, and others.
It's inaccurate to claim that the Taliban either or the Afghan people or that they represent the Afghan people. They are some of the Afghan people and they represent some of the Afghan people. They have some support and they have significant opposition as well, and there can be no denying that they are not good for Afghan women.
And in case you didn't notice, my op was hardly advocacy for staying in Afghanistan or cheering what we've done there.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)...and wish our troops were all out of that hellhole yesterday. Afghanistan is yet another "country" drawn up in European capitals (specifically London) in the 19th century with little regard to the ethnic groups within thus the other groups you mention do make up parts of the "country" and there's the rub. You may "control" a country economically or through the barrel of a gun but not in the hearts and minds of the people; a diversified group with different histories and agendas.
Unfortunately the Taliban represent more of the Afghan people than Karzai does and the Afghan women are the ones who have and will pay the price. When the Taliban were driven out of power in 2001 I was very hopeful that this would lead to greater freedom for Afghan women but it's been coopted by the corruption of the Karzai oligarchy. Wish there was a rosier picture but the options in that country are few...
