This is a long article about a reporter who interviewed people inside Afghanistan after the Taliban took over.

Hard to summarize, but worth a read.

What a fucked up country. Why did we ever let the Taliban take over ?

https://www.newyorker.com/maga...of-power-afghanistan

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Why did we ever let the Taliban take over ?

https://www.newyorker.com/maga...of-power-afghanistan

Just my two cents:

Because staying where we weren't wanted, trying to change the mindset of people who didn't want change was never going to work long-term.

Too much blood & treasure spent on stone-age heathens largely content with being stone-age heathens.

While the exit was handled very badly, we had to leave at some point. There was no reason for us to stay as long as we had. And whenever we left, the minute we left, the Taliban was going to take over. There was no way of preventing that without leaving significant forces there.

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For me, asking why the US let the Taliban take over is important to understand but it's looking in the past ~ learn the past to avoid repeats in the future!

What I want to understand, is why the liberal-left New Yorker Magazine is publishing the article?

I think there is a movement to have the Afghanistan government funds frozen by the US released to the new Taliban government without restrictions on what can be purchased and from where/who it can be purchased from. I think there are those that believe the US should again fund 80% of the new Taliban's government as was done for the previous Afgan government.

Keep an eye on what gets published in the months ahead by various news and opinion outlets on this and if the stories lay the foundation of how frozen assets and lack of continued funding plays into their conclusions.

.

Looks like they’ve gotten proficient flying those Blackhawks

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Snip

What a fucked up country. Why did we ever let the Taliban take over ?

https://www.newyorker.com/maga...of-power-afghanistan

It's a really good article.

We didn't.

First, the Pakistanis kept the pot boiling and the Taliban alive the entire time we were there through their ISI spy service, which is an entity unto itself, not wholly controlled by the central government. The ISI is also the direct patron of the Haqqani network. No matter when we left, the Talibs would have risen back up.

Second, the Afghans wouldn't fight for what we did. If they'd rather sit in the middle of the road and beg rather than fight, fuck 'em. We shouldn't do their fighting for them. Tribe means more than country.

Third, the political and military leadership is almost unfathomably corrupt. Vast amounts of money got spent there, but not much built roads, bridges, schools, courts, and the institutions of stable society. Warlords still exist there; Dostum and the like.

That shit just isn't fixable. Until there is a critical mass of Afghans who would rather have a functioning modern state instead of a 7th century Caliphate, and are ready to fight and die for that vision, this mess is what you get.

I blame Barack Hussein Obama, we should have had a plan to exit smoothly as soon as OBL was dropped off the side of the USN ship.

OBL dead, then mission accomplished, agent orange the poppy fields, fly all of our weapons out, then throw all the Afghanistan vets a parade in NYC, done.

HK Ag

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
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For me, asking why the US let the Taliban take over is important to understand but it's looking in the past ~ learn the past to avoid repeats in the future!
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Bingo! Isn't that why they teach history in school?

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
Looks like they’ve gotten proficient flying those Blackhawks

Threatening your family and children with torture, death and sexual slavery in the name of religion, doesn't leave you with many choices....or, the pilot is complicit.
There's also no shortage of 'contractors' handling things, Blackhawks have been around quite awhile now. A number of wealthy Gulf State sympathizers (as always) are financially supporting various Taliban needs.

Again.

You forgot the "again" in "Why did we ever let the Taliban take over again?" They were the ruling faction until we showed up in 2001.

Any foreign occupation of Afghanistan is just a temporary diversion for the natives, who know that sooner or later things will be right back to status quo ante, with ante being "the way we've done it for the last 1000 years."

quote:

Originally posted by HK Ag:
I blame Barack Hussein Obama, we should have had a plan to exit smoothly as soon as OBL was dropped off the side of the USN ship.

OBL dead, then mission accomplished, agent orange the poppy fields, fly all of our weapons out, then throw all the Afghanistan vets a parade in NYC, done.

HK Ag

THIS^^^^^^^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
What I want to understand, is why the liberal-left New Yorker Magazine is publishing the article?

Perhaps it's a desperate way to make Brandon's governance look good by comparison?

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
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For me, asking why the US let the Taliban take over is important to understand but it's looking in the past ~ learn the past to avoid repeats in the future!
.

Bingo! Isn't that why they teach history in school?

Do they still do that? I've seen little evidence of it.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
Again.

You forgot the "again" in "Why did we ever let the Taliban take over again?" They were the ruling faction until we showed up in 2001.

Any foreign occupation of Afghanistan is just a temporary diversion for the natives, who know that sooner or later things will be right back to status quo ante, with ante being "the way we've done it for the last 1000 years."

And I knew that the day we showed up there.

The only solution is to eliminate the Afghan culture. Had we gone in, with a commitment to indoctrinate the youth, it could have worked, but that means recognizing that some cultures should be erased.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:


Why did we ever let the Taliban take over ?

Because it is none of our business.

quote:

Why did we ever let the Taliban take over ?

Well, we weren't willing to annihilate them, so …

There was no plausible scenario where the Taliban wouldn't have taken over eventually. That didn't mean we had to hand it to them on a silver platter and make the withdrawal a total fuckup, leaving all those weapons, equipment and people behind.

The comedienne Kathleen Madigan had a great answer to the question “What would it cost to fix Afghanistan?”

“I don’t know, what would it cost to fix the Moon with angry Moon people throwing rocks at you?”