Congratulations to all those war-mongering politicians, captains of industry and shady conglomerates involved in the Afghan fiasco. They've successfully managed to achieve what Capitalist policy makers have failed to do thus far: deliver a real benefit to The Consumer. As the Troops pack up and leave, taking with them the memories of lost loved ones, and leaving a legacy of corruption, record Opium harvests are being announced....good news for smack heads....Heroine will be a few pence cheaper. Result
There is never going to be a chance of changing the grip of the taliban im sure the afgan experiment, will prove to be a waste of time money and brave peoples lives....
I think historically, every invading army to enter Afghanistan has eventually left without much in the way of success to show for its efforts. However, most have learnt the lessons.......we've been there twice in the last two hundred years which doesn't inspire much confidence in our glorious leaders as a species :s Sabbath had it right.......War Pigs! lol
They are their own worst enemy...any despotic fundamentalist Patriarchy is destined to fail...it's only a matter of time... Women build communities....subjugate them and your community dies, along with your ideals. India is beginning to wake up to this fact, thankfully.
It's happening as we speak....in small ways...on a local level....It won't happen overnight obviously. How long did it take The Suffragettes to secure voting rights for women? And that's in a supposedly enlightened democracy. I think the Taliban will be continuing to spout their own particular brand of iniquitous dogrel by the time I'm drawing a pension, but ultimately, the tenets upon which their ideology is based are unsustainable. Quite why they don't see this is beyond me...any doctrine that bans music (for example) is untenable...
Yep, small ways, on a local level, that will revert to type as soon as the troops pull out. You can't educate pork unfortunately.
I disagree....the presence of an 'invading force' (as they were portrayed) merely served to bolster their cause....with the troops gone, there will be reprisals, local power struggles and fragmentation of what little real support there is...in time, society will revert to a more stable state...the economy will improve...and with it, an upsurge in demand for greater equality...History bears this out. If you consider how the aspirations of muslim girls in the UK have changed in a relatively short time (two/three generations?) this demonstrates my point. True, there will always be vestiges of bigotry and dogmatism, but these will be in the minority
The Russians invaded afghan and they couldn't gain anything they left with nothing and as the Cold War was going on the British sent the SAS across there to train the Afghans and sent arms there. The SAS are the greatest fighting force in the world!! So the Taliban are well trained I play a part in the military and I don't think we should be there it couldn't come soon enough pulling out of there! We've lost to many good lads already and the repercussions have been massive.
Who? the Soviet Union? They pulled out after realizing that their efforts were largely ineffectual given the terrain and the opposition's tactics....it became unpopular at home. The Mujahideen were trained and funded by The US...who saw their sphere of influence in the middle east being threatened...it had very little to do with the incumbent tribal stucture which had been established over centuries....the same can be said for the current war....Afghanistan merely provides the Theatre in which opposing forces fight for supremacy...the resolution lies in it's people, it's farmers, teachers...those who remain once the warring factions have f*cked off
So largely the same as us and the yanks now then? Very little changed last time, very little will change this time.
I think the patriachy system of goverment is too deeply rooted in their culture to change for a very long time. As for fragmentation surely the last couple of hundred years of attempted British influence over whichever Ruler sat in Kabul has shown that no matter what happens in terms of who deposes whom, because tribal loyalty runs deep, nothing really changes as far as stability is concerned.
I think you need to quantify your time frame....I'm talking generations ...but maybe you're right....maybe some environments are such that conflict is a necessary way of life....Sad if this is the case. Pomegranates are the answer....one of the few cash crops with world wide demand that can be successfully cultivated in this region
Stability is what has been missing....the Tribal structure has been undermined by a succession of invaders...if a tribal structure works for Afghanistan, then so be it....why should anyone try to impose upon it? This is my point
200 years ago when British troops were far more brutal than they are now we could have done something about some of the problems in Afghanistan , now we are under funded in a miltary way and to wary of the rest of the world watching whats going on ,. Luckily our armed forces are now restrained by conventions . Bring the troops home to defend our country
