It's almost like your "devil's advocacy" makes you seem like an apologist... You appear to be giving the Taliban quite a lot of credit for their brief show of "restraint"....
Thread from an embassy operator in Afghanistan (ar15.com link)
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It's almost like your "devil's advocacy" makes you seem like an apologist... You appear to be giving the Taliban quite a lot of credit for their brief show of "restraint"....
No, quit overthinking it in an effort to pin the blame on Trump. Off the top of my head I can come up with a quick outline of the Afghanistan situation.
1. Because of man's fallen nature we can be cruel, barbaric, greedy, power hungry and opportunistic.
2. Afghanistan, like much of the Middle East is more of a collection of tribes rather than sharing a national identity.
3. Afghanistan is extremely poor and money is the driving force for "loyalty".
4. The ME respects strength and force. Trump showed strength. Biden didn't.
5. When the opening for power presented itself, the Taliban became quite opportunistic.
6. The Taliban is being bankrolled, likely indirectly by US dollars, to buy its way to power in the short term without the need for violence.
7. As a leopard can't change its spots neither can the Taliban which will soon resort to brutality and terror when and if its source of funding dries up.
8. Posturing now for the cameras, when the eyes of the world go away the Taliban will return to its old ways. It is a question of when, not the if you presented.
My guess is the Taliban has been bought of by US Dollars. Give us some time and here is some money.
What will happen when the real shit show starts?
Blame? I am praising Trump. For real, no shit. The only "blame" is there was not going to be a pretty end to this, especially once the Afghani government refused to negotiate with the Taliban and proved to be totally useless.
Creationism ain't got nothing to do with it. Humans just suck.
Not necessarily. Iranians are very damn sure they are Iranians.
Yeah that one really worked out for us in Afghanistan...I maintain that religion, and the political outlook it comes with, is far more unifying that cash in that culture.
I am laughing.
Trump's strength was domestic in telling the Pentagon and MIC to fvck off. Period. And that's admirable! Taliban probably thinks he's a cvnt and laugh at him, after all they got what they wanted. Which is OK, that place is a tar pit.
Vacuums tend to do that. And there was going to be one no matter what when we left, because the Afghani government was ineffectual.
I found this GREAT piece on where they get their money from. It's beyond fascinating, really. Of course they control dope. But who knew they were big into property and auto parts?
https://theconversation.com/the-tal...ey-they-use-to-wage-war-in-afghanistan-147411
People might like that. Not the ones getting killed, of course. I presented no if, it's absolutely a when...but will the people see that as OK? That's the image. "We're dicks, but the dicks you like." It's crazy AF to us, but some cultures want hard-core Sharia law. Some cultures want a strongman. The US needs to learn that ain't our business, unless they directly fvck with us. No 9/11, no AQ, Taliban never lost Afghanistan for a couple decades. Should we start buying cell phones and TVs if the Taliban starts making them? Of course not. But not our business.
Blame? I am praising Trump. For real, no shit. The only "blame" is there was not going to be a pretty end to this, especially once the Afghani government refused to negotiate with the Taliban and proved to be totally useless.
Creationism ain't got nothing to do with it. Humans just suck.
Not necessarily. Iranians are very damn sure they are Iranians.
Yeah that one really worked out for us in Afghanistan...I maintain that religion, and the political outlook it comes with, is far more unifying that cash in that culture.
I am laughing.
Trump's strength was domestic in telling the Pentagon and MIC to fvck off. Period. And that's admirable! Taliban probably thinks he's a cvnt and laugh at him, after all they got what they wanted. Which is OK, that place is a tar pit.
Vacuums tend to do that. And there was going to be one no matter what when we left, because the Afghani government was ineffectual.
I found this GREAT piece on where they get their money from. It's beyond fascinating, really. Of course they control dope. But who knew they were big into property and auto parts?
https://theconversation.com/the-tal...ey-they-use-to-wage-war-in-afghanistan-147411
No lol. It's an explanation of why many Afghanis might be accepting of the Taliban, and why many security forces and cops said fvck it. And why they would show restraint at first!
Look at Hamas. They suck. But to the Palestinians, Hamas aint't the Jews...and they run medical clinics! So yay Hamas! But they sure as shit tortured and killed people from the other Palestinian party (Fatah)...something 99.99% of Americans have no idea about.
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I'll give you that is really interesting. This is what I like to get from this forum rather than being called the various names that are repeatedly thrown around.
I read the article and wonder how accurate it is? I haven't researched it any further but would like to. I'd welcome any corroborating information.
You've got to hand it to the Taliban. Apparently they are quite the capitalists as they declare war on capitalism... I like that they still get monies from the foreign governments. Talk about having your cake and eating it too...
Two primary questions I have related to this: 1. Why isn't this more widely reported? and 2. How much influence and/or followers can $1.6 billion a year buy?
Look fvckface, it's an interesting period of time. It's nice to have long conservations about it, beyond just TrumpBad or JoeBad. It's interesting for a lot of reasons. You've got this whole societal thing in Afghanistan. There's this big pivot that started under Trump of China containment vs foreign shithole intervention, coupled with a domestic spending vs foreign shithole spending thing with Biden. It's kind of like the end of the Cold War period, when we thought there would be a domestic dividend...makes you wonder what really is next, and what the MIC has up its sleeve.
Whatever, Slapnuts.
Looks to be written by an academic/expert, and included some good links. I'd say accurate.
It has me looking at them like the mafia. There's money from extortion, drugs, informal taxation through a protection racket...and then legit businesses. And a quasi-government (now a real government), much as the mafia ran entire boroughs of NYC.
Here's another piece just from today about the Taliban economy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/opinion/taliban-afghanistan-economy.html
Nobody cares. There's masks and vaxxes and critical race theory and climate change and whatever else to get riled up over.
A shitload. All those cops and security forces that say they haven't been paid in months? The same guys that didn't fight back? Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?
You double posted your response. That was what the reference was to. Man you get triggered easily... Then resort to the name-calling??? Need to lighten up...☹
Maybe Normie can buy you a 🍺. You definitely need something...
That's reassuring. There was a good post on experts the other day. Did you miss that???
And that religion that you are referring to has been such a unifying force in that region of the world for the last 2,000 years or so, hasn't it???
One would think from the above post that their religion would have more influence over them rather than the money...
BTW I believe the Taliban's "payroll" is likely getting much smaller soon. Why continue to pay bribes to the opposition when you are now in control??? I think the appropriate term for those on the take is "useful idiots"...☹
And this is the opposite of what Biden said last month. Did he forget? Did he lie? Maybe he's just incompetent.
"The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," Biden said.
I name call here in jest and ribbing. Especially when your hilljack ass just said something about it, shit for brains.
Did you click the guy's bio? It's written by an Afghani with extensive experience in the economy of his nation.
https://www.unomaha.edu/internation...ghanistan-studies/about-us/hanif-sufizada.php
It's very unifying in that a lot of people will kill and die for it. Christianity used to be this way, but The Enlightenment took that edge off. I'd rather die than deny my faith and take up Islam because the barrel of a gun is pointed at me, but I am not going to go to actual war with other people over it. And neither are you. That's not what we do in the West.
Or they will still have local police and security forces to pay. Ruling has a price tag too, nothing's free even with devotees. Likely cheaper, but never free.
Anybody being objective knows that Biden Admin ****ed this up. There is no way around it. Somethings are just pretty clear. This is one of them.
The more you read about the Biden administration's "preparation" in the months before the disastrously implemented pullout, the more it's evident Biden's withdrawal would infinitely amplify the chaos.
The admin blocking comms is a dereliction of duties. They have no idea how to deal with the fallout, both Afghanistan and the media. They know there's no way to square the three conflicting statements -
- There's no way to have known the Taliban would take over so quickly
- There was no way to avoid chaos
- We've prepared for every contingency
Biden has a hard time answering tough questions. He gets angry, raises his voice, and can't think on his feet (like saying the people falling from planes happened 5 days ago (why he thought that was a point to make is questionable), to saying we don't have troops in Syria, how can he forget that?).
Harris is horrible with direct, aggressive questions. She's so authoritarian and it surprises her to the point she interrupts and starts pointing her finger.
Psaki's job is to protect the WH, so that source is a wash.
They're in hiding, and they're undermining public trust and confidence. I never again want to hear "the adults are in the room."
- There's no way to have known the Taliban would take over so quickly
- There was no way to avoid chaos
- We've prepared for every contingency
Biden has a hard time answering tough questions. He gets angry, raises his voice, and can't think on his feet (like saying the people falling from planes happened 5 days ago (why he thought that was a point to make is questionable), to saying we don't have troops in Syria, how can he forget that?).
Harris is horrible with direct, aggressive questions. She's so authoritarian and it surprises her to the point she interrupts and starts pointing her finger.
Psaki's job is to protect the WH, so that source is a wash.
They're in hiding, and they're undermining public trust and confidence. I never again want to hear "the adults are in the room."
They are clearly in hiding. His handlers are protecting him. He is the commander in chief. He gave the order. Own up to it like a man and deal with it.
Biden’s confusion over the timeline for when the Afghani’s fell to their deaths is certainly eyebrow raising (to be polite) but why he’s dismissing the deaths as old news like he’s a detective on The First 48 is beyond me.
Your (sic) not the only one to have a license on jesting...🙂 I just try to do it without name-calling...
You always have to split hairs to disagree to disagree. Can you ever just agree to agree in principal??? I said much smaller, not disappear...
BTW the Afghani government had a $5.5 billion annual budget in addition to the Taliban's $1.6 billion budget. Wonder where that stands right now and who will step up and fund any inflow reductions and/or interruptions???
1. Months ago, no. Why? American hubris. Even if we knew we would not admit it to ourselves. This is an indictment not of the Administration, but of the entire system. The Pentagon, intelligence community, every damn White House in my lifetime, etc.
2. Once Taliban was rolling into Kabul, no. Could we have accelerated the exit and perhaps outran the chaos? Maybe. Could we have lit up the Taliban as we exited? Sure, but in violation of the "agreement", which would be another thing to bitch about. But I have already beat the dead horse here.
3. That one is absolute bullshit, I'll give you that. And that is really fvcked up.
On that one, yes. They will have the twin responsibility of running a government and a mob. Could Capone have cut it as both the boss and the mayor of Chicago? Who knows.
I wonder how much of that budget was foreign aid?
Actually looks like most of it is with the vast majority coming from the US. The CCP is going to have to step up big time...
