Taliban defeats America

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Because E V E R Y T H I N G is about Trump to those who live to hate him.

I think the US grossly underestimated the importance of networks of tribal dependencies and unofficial deals - something that's just corruption from Western point of view, seems to actually be the very canvas of Afghan society - and the Taliban, recruiting from the locals, navigated it prefectly.

Tribal Loyalty is something that most Americans (especially white Americans) seem to not understand; and when they try, they get it completely wrong.  It is not about forming a team ad hoc to combat the opposition; it is about maintaining familial relationships that go back generations to support each other and each other's families.

For example, one aspect of the Philippine culture can be described as "Everyone is everyone else's cousin" -- maybe not literally; but if your great-grandfather came from the same barangay as your co-worker's great-grandfather, then the two of you are "cousins".  My wife has several such "cousins" in Baguio, and they all consider me their "cousin" as well (even though they call me "Kuya").

“Forever Wars” is not something Americans will support and politicians want to be popular. So blame us.

Biden screwed it up but he only made an inevitable bad situation worse. Even if the ending was not as bad the Taliban would have taken over with ensuing bloodbath eventually. Some voters might have been fooled but both our allies and adversaries would realize we gave up to a rag tag guerrilla army and understand we are not to be trusted.

A lot of people are saying including Afghan vets that that the soldiers fought and died for nothing, a complete waste. The Americans did keep the Taliban out of power for 20 years and that made the lives of many Afghans lives better.

Biden’s timing is curious. There was no anti Afghan war movement going on, and no American casualties in almost two years. Out of sight, out of mind. Maybe Biden mistakenly thought the collapse would be out of sight out of mind.

My culture is somewhere in-between.
Surviving rough times promoted a lot of unofficial networking - during communism, money was worthless but knowing the right person meant access to things you needed. Earlier, over a century of political non-existence and struggle for cultural survival promoted, well, patriotic mafia-like structures. They're a disease now but that's how we survived.
I expect Afghanistan to have even more social structures of this kind.

I have no idea what Biden thought of it. I suspect he totally didn't get this aspect - but why didn't CIA warn him? Or did they warn him and he chose to ignore it? Sometimes we have no idea how confined to our culture our reasoning can be.

The real reason we've been in Afghanistan for 20 years can be summed up thusly:

Ratheon, Halliburton, Boeing, General Dynamics...etc.

War is profitable. The U.S. has become a permanent war economy.

The US made use of tribal fielty when the Mujahadeen was formed during Russian occupation.

US Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was tasked with the help of then US ally Osama Bin Laden in setting up the Mujahadeen as a guerilla force against the Russians.

The Russian backed government was led by Mohammed Najibullah who was a member of the Ghilji confederacy, a sect who were in alliance with other tribal groups (Hazara, Tajik, Turkmen, baloch and many others) traditionally suppressed by the majority Pashtun. In particular the Baloch tribesmen of western Afghanistan and northern tribal groups like the Hazara are still fighting a separatist campaign against the Pashtun dominated government.

Bin Laden made contact with Pashtun anti-Russian Pashtun tribal leaders in exile in Pakistan. From there he formed two sets of networks with full cooperation with the US. First in setting up the anti-Russian Mujahadeen movement made up of Pashtun that would make incursions into Afghanistan to attack both the Russian backed communist tribal alliance and the Russian occupation forces. The second network Bin Laden set up was with the Pakistan military. The Pakistan military special branch had ulterior motives, firstly to use their alliance with the US-Mujahadeen-Bin Laden coalition to interfere in Afghan politics but also to set up groups who would later train terror cells in India to disrupt civilian life in Kashmir also bomb Mumbai as well as terror groups in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

When the US coalition eventually drove the Russians out they setup a puppet government. But like the Russians before them they used the colonial trick of divide and rule so that no one ethnic group controlled the country. This angered the old Pashto dominated Mujahadeen tribal groups as well as their benafactor Bin laden who felt they had been betrayed by the Americans. Bin Laden (with the help of Pakistan) transformed the Mujahadeen into the Taliban. He also formed a transnational anti-American sunni dominated islamic movement called al Qaeda.

While the average American wouldn't be able to tell an Afghan from a Pakistani from an Indian, the US military and CIA are acutely aware of tribal identity/politics in the region. Rather than underestimate, they have been using these divisions to their advantage. But since the fall of the US-backed Kazai government then the reinstallment of pro-US militia they have been trying to manage the inter-ethnic and since Biden indicated in 2009 that he disagreed with Obama's policies in keeping troops there has probably been a lack of benefit in maintaining a presence due not just to the complexity of competing interests in the region (which BTW is in the sphere of south asia rather than central asia) but also COVID19 which adds another layer of complexity.

Their new approach is a lot more intelligent.
They have conquered The Great Satan, obtained their military ordinance and trained Afghan army, have established diplomatic relations with the other evil empires.
They are sitting pretty.

The time is for consolidation and a degree of legitimacy.
I wasn't expecting this sort of sophistication, assuming it continues.

But after they have achieved stability, will they revert to their old ways?
This is the $64,000 question.

The US didn't have a clue about the Iraqi mindset either.
Perhaps they should stay out of middle eastern politics until they do understand the cultures.

Total humiliation for the Amerians.

China looking to fill the gap. making overtures to the Talis
https://www.news.com.au/technology/inno ... 4067a7daab

I bearly skunkly choose to live comfortably where I am.
If I was over there, I would be one of the people hanging onto the wheel of an aircraft until the was sufficient height to let go.

Based on recent news reports, the scumbags are back to their old tricks.

Humanity.

Epic fail.



I was hoping for the best.
It doesn't look good, no.

Rational people will see their blatant bias.