So if the Taliban won't tolerate the sound of a woman's voice on TV or the radio (from some dubious report I read), then there are a lot of women who agree with that? — frank
When comparing the Taliban with the United States and its Western allies, the vast majority of Afghans have always viewed the Taliban as the lesser of two evils.
When comparing the Taliban with the United States and its Western allies, the vast majority of Afghans have always viewed the Taliban as the lesser of two evils. — Apollodorus
paid nothing to read it. Just click the "FREE" option on the left and close the ad window. — Apollodorus
Why would China step in? Isn't the example of the a) British Empire, b) Soviet Empire and c) US Empire that Afghanistan is not the place to go, if you don't want to kill your empire? — ssu
To many Americans, that may seem an outlandish claim. The coalition, after all, poured billions of dollars into Afghanistan. It built highways. It emancipated Afghan women. It gave millions of people the right to vote for the first time ever.
All true. But the Americans also went straight to building roads, schools and governing institutions — in an effort to “win hearts and minds” — without first figuring out what values animate those hearts and what ideas fill those minds. We thus wound up acting in ways that would ultimately alienate everyday Afghans ....
U.S. forces turned villages into battlegrounds, pulverizing mud homes and destroying livelihoods. One could almost hear the Taliban laughing as any sympathy for the West evaporated in bursts of gunfire.
Sometimes, yes, we built good things — clinics, schools, wells. But when the building was done, we would simply leave. The Taliban would not only destroy those facilities, but also look upon the local community with greater suspicion for having received “gifts” from America ...
How is changing culture "nuking" them? — Apollodorus
Because Afghanistan falls within their geographical sphere of influence — Michael Zwingli
Two sleek new roads vanish into mountain tunnels high above a sleepy Montenegrin village, the unlikely endpoint of a billion-dollar project bankrolled by China that is threatening to derail the tiny country's economy.
The government has already burnt through $944 million in Chinese loans to complete the first stretch of road, just 41 kilometres (25 miles), making it among the world's most expensive pieces of tarmac.
Chinese workers have spent six years carving tunnels through solid rock and raising concrete pillars above gorges and canyons, but the road in effect goes nowhere.
Almost 130 kilometres still needs to be built at a likely cost of at least one billion euros ($1.2 billion).
Critics question how the rest of the road will be paid for and highlight environmental damage caused by the construction along with corruption allegations over the awarding of work contacts.
The road is meant to connect the Adriatic port of Bar in the south with the Serbian border in the north, with the intention that the Serbians will then extend it to their capital, Belgrade.
It is unclear where the money will come from or how Montenegro -- a country with a GDP of 4.9 billion euros -- will repay its existing debt to China.
If Montenegro cannot pay, it faces arbitration in Beijing and could be forced to give up control of key infrastructure, according to a copy of the contract seen by AFP.
China can use their proxy Pakistan to try to calm things down in Afghanistan. Then if there is peace or let's say enough stability, then the Chinese can make those investments to mine for raw materials. They don't have to worry about Western competition, that's for sure.Because Afghanistan falls within their presumed geographical "sphere of influence". Every superpower eventually feels compelled to define it's sphere of influence, over which it asserts a paternalizing authority. The U.S. did way back in 1823, with the so-called "Monroe Doctrine". China might view this as it's chance to better define it's sphere of influence. — Michael Zwingli
China's "debt-trap diplomacy" entails making large loans to small countries in exchange for influence over their economy and politics. — Apollodorus
The US did a lot of that. I wonder if China picked up the technique from the US or if it was convergent evolution. — frank
They are like a larger and more lethal version of Nazi Germany. — Apollodorus
“They need to wake up and take then their own responsibilities,” said Borrell of the EU’s capitals. “This is nothing against Nato or the US alliance. It is a way of getting stronger and facing our responsibility and mobilising our resources to face the challenges that we will have to face.”
Analysts and officials in Pakistan believe the Taliban’s victory serves dual purposes. It helps Pakistan to secure its interests in Afghanistan both by having a friendly group in charge of the government and by limiting the space for Indian engagement in Kabul. Pakistan has long accused regional rival India of working to destabilize its western border region via Afghanistan. With the Taliban in power, the sense in Islamabad is that alleged foreign support for terror groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and for Pashtun and Baloch nationalist groups will diminish. In addition, Pakistan hopes that a Taliban-led government will provide it with opportunities to expand its geoeconomic footprint as it seeks to connect Central Asia with access to the Arabian Sea at Gwadar. This strategy expects that the Taliban will both be able to effectively stabilize Afghanistan and prevent anti-Pakistan groups from launching attacks, both of which are questionable assumptions.
Entire branches of Shakira’s family tree, from the uncles who used to tell her stories to the cousins who played with her in the caves, vanished. In all, she lost sixteen family members. I wondered if it was the same for other families in Pan Killay. I sampled a dozen households at random in the village, and made similar inquiries in other villages, to insure that Pan Killay was no outlier. For each family, I documented the names of the dead, cross-checking cases with death certificates and eyewitness testimony. On average, I found, each family lost ten to twelve civilians in what locals call the American War.
Afghanistan was a real tragedy.They'd likely have preferred US (and whatever) presence staying in Afghanistan: — jorndoe
Can't believe that they are ready to dry out the Federal Reserve for a country they have never been there - Ukraine - and they don't care about Afghanistan when it has been a key factor in their war against Al-Qaeda in the last decades... — javi2541997
It's almost like these actions are governed by convenient utilities rather than any kind of value commitment. — Pantagruel
"We" meaning NATO and the West left once the US decided to leave. Not that the issue was discussed with us, actually.Since we all left - spontaneously - it seems that this country doesn't exist any more. — javi2541997
Well, ask how the South Vietnamese feel.I am not angry about the indifference by the US to the new Caliphate - or whatever it is Afghanistan nowadays - but on the citizens and collaborators who helped us once. The fact that they are abandoned in the randomness of destiny is mithering me. They could be killed by the Taliban or by a natural disaster. An Afghan person is forced to live in continuous uncertainty. — javi2541997
The US isn't yet ready to have a discussion of how it basically lost the War in Afghanistan in the similar fashion as it lost South Vietnam. — ssu
And with Afghanistan, where are those safe havens for terrorists planning to attack the US? — ssu
That has been surprisingly not only debunked, acknowledged to have been wrong, but also accepted to have been a part of a campaign to have the war with Iraq. And actually the change in the discourse happened thanks to Trump, actually. Before there where even here in PF people that saw as their duty to defend President Bush with the half-truth "the intelligence given was faulty".. It reminds me of the conspiracy theory of the hidden nuclear weapons in Bagdad. Bush said back then: "The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder." https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html
The presumption that it always rings a bell... — javi2541997
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