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  1. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    ^^ Ya crack me up, again. Larf a minute 'arry.
    Sorry, I forgot you are a cheerleader for the Taliban.

    Attachment 75444

  2. #27
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    Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-14

    September 7, 2021 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

    14. The fall of Panjshir

    "Panjshir has fallen to the Taliban with a bang — and a whimper. The bang is because a 40-year old legend lies shattered, the legend of the invincibility of Panjshir Valley. And the whimper is because the short-lived ‘resistance’ had a tame ending.

    A BBC report said the revolt’s two top leaders Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh were not even in Panjshir during the past 4 days at least but had left for Tajikistan and were apparently leading the so-called ‘resistance’ via Twitter. It may seem farcical and will have deleterious consequences.

    First, the significance of the Taliban’s ‘conquest’ of Panjshir is that the war has ended. The chances of revolts erupting in other parts of the country are remote. Mazar-i-Sharif mutely watched, where the Tajik population is substantial. Atta Mohammed Noor and Rashid Dostum have been surprisingly quiet and both are probably out of the country. After capturing Ismail Khan, Taliban let him leave for Iran. Noor, the most prominent warlord, is inclined to put a priority on politics over military action.

    These warlords have no political future. It is yet to sink in that with Taliban’s ascendance, the era of warlordism is ending in Afghanistan. Dostum is charged with war crimes, having massacred hundreds of Taliban fighters in captivity. There must be tons of incriminating evidence against Saleh too. Noor is reputed to be the richest man in Afghanistan but his standing as a public figure plummeted in recent years due to his image as a very corrupt man. Ismail Khan is far too old, and at the end of the road. None of them has a pan-Afghan appeal to even remotely match Taliban’s.

    Tajikistan seems to have become a sanctuary for retreating Afghan warlords. But will it become a base for mounting anti-Taliban resistance? Unlikely. Russia’s stance will be crucial. Admittedly, Moscow played a dubious role fuelling the Panjshir revolt. But Taliban and Pakistan are in a forgiving mood, and the good thing is that Russia always knows which side of the bread is buttered.

    The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is already toying with the idea of accepting the Taliban’s special invite for the announcement of their government. One happy solution would be that Moscow provide a lavish decadent life in exile for these immensely rich Afghan warlords, and thereby generate some equity vis-a-vis the Taliban. It is a familiar Russian tactic in the Central Asian steppes.

    Russia’s main dilemma, however, remains: If the Taliban stabilise the situation in northern Afghanistan and tighten up border security, the threat perceptions in Central Asia, which currently borders on xenophobia, would recede. Now, Russia’s grip over Central Asian states is directly linked to its role as provider of security. The more secure those countries feel, the less will be their dependence on Moscow.

    Quite obviously, the Taliban are savvy enough to understand all this. Therefore, a consolidation of the Taliban’s grip on northern Afghanistan is to be expected. Taliban knows that this is China’s concern too.

    Like Russia, the United States is also hyping up the spectre of civil war in Afghanistan. Both are stakeholders, in a manner of speaking, in a civil war, since their interference in Afghanistan is dependent on unstable conditions. However, unlike Russia and the US, Iran’s unhappiness with the Taliban’s assault on Panjshir is authentic — based on its ethnic and cultural affinities with the Afghan Sunni Tajiks who account for somewhere between 25-30 percent of the population.

    However, Iran’s core constituency is the Hazara Shia and Taliban will accommodate its concerns. Any expectation that Iran may gang up with Russia to fuel an anti-Taliban resistance will remain a pipe dream. Iran has huge stakes in Afghanistan’s stability. Border security is a core concern.

    Above all, Taliban is no longer an adversary for Tehran, which is already looking for economic opportunities in Afghanistan. Connectivity through northern Afghanistan to Uzbekistan and Central Asia is a strategic project, as its partnership with China is poised to expand by leaps and bounds once the 25-year, $400 billion economic pact gets activated. Above all, Tehran shares China’s geopolitical concerns, especially to keep the Americans out of Afghanistan. Iran is becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation mechanism and it now has added leverage to give traction to dealings with the Taliban government.

    Indeed, the US is frantic that other countries (except lackeys like the UK or Australia and Canada) may eventually begin to deal with the Taliban government. Washington wants to prevent that happening by hyping up scaremongering and scripting false narratives casting the Taliban government in poor light. Upto a point, this may work, but a strategy based on negativism is an inherently flawed one.

    The US’ future prospects for interference in Afghan affairs will depend heavily on the fortunes of the ISIS. The US has been exaggerating the ISIS threat lately, as it provides alibi for future military intervention in Afghanistan. In reality, though, the ISIS could grow only in the benevolent climate of the US occupation and the tacit acquiescence of the Ashraf Ghani government.

    Ghani’s Kabul set-up had selective uses for the ISIS affiliates in their agenda to bleed Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban most certainly was also complicit. However, Pakistan will ensure that the Taliban government clamps down on these terrorist groups operating out of Afghanistan. It is a profound national security issue for Islamabad. High-level consultations with the Taliban leadership have already begun. The pincer movement will start showing results sooner than one may think.

    Without doubt, Taliban have the ISIS in its crosshairs. But, arguably, if the extent of state patronage that ISIS enjoyed is no longer available, it may cease to be a magnet for radical Afghan elements. Again, with the end of foreign occupation, Afghanistan is done with ‘jihad’. Taliban has shown the skill to assimilate extremist elements if they are reconcilable as well as the ruthlessness to eliminate recalcitrant troublemakers.

    Removing all conceivable alibi for foreign intervention will be a top priority for Taliban leadership. But Taliban is not a revanchist movement. In the Taliban folklore, what took place was a national liberation struggle to rid the motherland of colonisation. Importantly, the trajectory of the Taliban’s relationship with China is linked to its success in curbing the terrorist groups. And Taliban attributes the highest importance to China’s goodwill and all-round support. read more

    Therefore, the Pentagon generals will eventually have to eat their words once again if they keep pushing the apocalyptic scenario of civil war conditions. Some American think tankers give the spin that the Taliban will not deny space to its militant allies. But these self-styled experts overlook that tactical considerations of the period of resistance no longer exist today and the Taliban’s interest lies in stabilising the Afghan situation and get on with good governance.

    To be sure, there are daunting challenges ahead. The massive ‘brain drain’ weakens the new government’s capacity to perform efficiently. Ghani and his clique have looted the Treasury. As if in tandem, the US promptly blocked the Taliban government’s access to the country’s reserves (approx. $9 billion plus.) On top of it, sanctions have been imposed.

    In sum, the US is vengeful and determined to make life as difficult as possible for the Taliban government. Such tactic may continue so long as the Taliban defies American pressure. But the silver lining is that the US’ European allies may not follow its footfalls. Germany has already broken ranks. Italy too may follow. France is brooding. Qatar is manifestly sympathetic toward the Taliban. China, of course, has openly stated its readiness to help.

    This is where the fall of Panjshir becomes a defining moment. The Taliban’s preference was to reach a negotiated settlement. But once Taliban realised that Massoud and Saleh were asking for the moon — 1/3 of all cabinet posts, etc. — they decided to act.

    A protracted revolt just 50 kilometres away from the capital would have dented the Taliban’s credibility and opened the pathway for large-scale foreign interference. Certainly, the aura of victory in Panjshir boosts the Taliban’s national standing.

    At the end of the day, Taliban won where the Soviet Army failed even after 9 attempts.
    "

    Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-14 - Indian Punchline
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  3. #28
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    Sergey Lavrov’s answers to media questions following a visit to Leningrad region, St Petersburg, September 6, 2021

    1746-06-09-2021

    "Question:

    The Taliban have announced that they sent out invitations to a number of countries, including Russia, to attend the government formation event. Can you confirm or refute the receipt of such an invitation?

    How will Russia reply to this?


    Sergey Lavrov:


    They have pointed out publicly that they will send us such an invitation. Maybe it has arrived while we are talking. We are ready to support the formation of a government that will reflect the entire range of Afghan society, including the Taliban and other ethnic groups, which will not only include the Pashtuns but also Uzbeks, Hazara and Tajiks. Only such an inclusive government will be able to ensure a sustainable transition to a new life for our Afghan neighbours.

    If this is the goal of the ceremony, we will be delighted to attend it together with the other invited countries, which can influence the situation in Afghanistan.

    Question:

    Which path will Afghanistan opt for?


    Sergey Lavrov:


    This is for the Afghan people to decide. We are urging our neighbours to do this in an inclusive process, so that all ethnic and political groups in the country are involved.

    The Taliban, who came to power after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, have announced that they will form such a government. We wholeheartedly support this intention. We really do hope that it will be implemented."


    Sergey Lavrov’s answers to media questions following a visit to Leningrad region, St Petersburg, September 6, 2021 - News - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

  4. #29
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    Well 'arry, you can rationalise it all you like- but the fact remains that the US invasion of Afghanistan was yet another expensive, bloody, humiliating defeat. Butthurt?

  5. #30
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    Taliban announces formation of caretaker govt in Afghanistan


    Xinhua | Updated: 2021-09-08 07:14


    An Afghan man pushes a handcart on the street in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug 31, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] "Basir Faqiri, a shop owner in Kabul, hoped that lasting peace would be restored in the war-torn country with the formation of the caretaker government.

    "The announcement of the acting government is another step toward the peace and prosperity of Afghanistan," said Faqiri, planning to reopen his shop and restart his small business.

    "I hope the Taliban soon finds some solutions for political and economic uncertainties," he said.

    Taliban's supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada said in a statement after the announcement of the acting government makeup that the new leadership would ensure "lasting peace, prosperity and development", and urged people not to try to leave the country.

    He said that all will take part in strengthening Afghanistan and "in this way, we will rebuild our war-torn country."
    He told Afghans that the ultimate goal of the new authorities would be to "put the country on its feet as soon as possible" and rebuild the country.

    The formation of the caretaker government was announced after the Taliban said on Monday it had completely captured Panjshir, the last holdout province of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

    Panjshir, some 200 km north of the capital Kabul, had been the last province in Afghanistan uncontrolled by the Taliban after the group seized most of Afghanistan's territories since early August in its blitz attacks, including Kabul.

    The last batch of US troops left Afghanistan at mid-night on Aug 30, one day before the Aug 31 deadline set by US President Joe Biden, ending a 20-year invasion war into the Central Asian country.

    In 2001, the US-led military forces invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of searching for Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

    During the past two decades, the US-led operations in Afghanistan have caused more than 30,000 civilian deaths, and turned about 11 million people into refugees, leaving Afghanistan in desperate need of stability and rehabilitation.

    The Taliban has previously promised to build an inclusive government and hoped that Afghan people would help in the country's transition.

    At a press conference held on Aug 18, the first since Taliban's takeover of the capital Kabul on Aug 15, spokesman Mujahid said the Taliban wants to have good relations with everybody to develop the country's economy and achieve prosperity.

    The Taliban supreme leader had declared a general amnesty, promising to ensure the safety of the contractors and translators who had worked for the United States and allied forces, the government soldiers who had been fighting the Taliban for years, and those whose families were attempting to leave Afghanistan, Mujahid said.

    He also said women could work and study in different fields within the framework of Sharia or Islamic law, and they would be offered all rights within the Islamic principles, because women are vital parts of the society."

    Taliban announces formation of caretaker govt in Afghanistan - Chinadaily.com.cn

  6. #31
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    Taliban say U.N. promises aid after meeting with officials in Kabul

    September 6, 2021

    "Senior Taliban officials met in Kabul on Sunday with the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who promised to maintain assistance for the Afghan people, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said."

    Taliban say U.N. promises aid after meeting with officials in Kabul | Reuters

  7. #32
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    New ‘cabinet’

    Editorial

    Published September 8, 2021

    "WHILE the Afghan Taliban announced members of an interim ‘cabinet’ on Tuesday — the first step towards the formation of a new government — it is unclear if members of other political, tribal and ethnic groups will get a seat at Afghanistan’s governing table.

    Nearly all of the key posts announced by the Taliban’s spokesman, from the prime minister, deputy prime minister, foreign minister etc, have been handed to senior Taliban clerics or leaders of the movement’s armed and political wings. “All groups have been represented,” claimed Taliban spokesman and new information minister Zabihullah Mujahid.

    However, it was not immediately apparent whether members of the Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek communities are also part of the new ruling structure.

    Moreover, on Monday the Taliban had entered Panjshir, up till now a staunch bastion of anti-Taliban opposition, and raised their black and white standard in the valley, cementing their hold over practically the entire country. Leading Taliban opponent Ahmad Massoud has vowed to fight on, yet with his rivals now controlling his home base, it remains to be seen how he will organise his resistance.

    Read: Who are the key figures in the new Taliban government?

    The key question confronting the Taliban now is that of international recognition. Taliban officials have said they want “strong and healthy” relations with other states. However, this is contingent on a number of things. Firstly, the Taliban need to assure the world that things will be different this time around compared to their previous stint, where respect for fundamental rights, including women’s rights, is concerned. Secondly, they must pledge to take action against foreign terrorists based on Afghan soil. Moreover, when they talk of an inclusive government, they must deliver on these promises. This means all of Afghanistan’s major ethnic groups and religious minorities as well as the country’s women must have a say in matters of governance.

    Also, while they may have taken Panjshir, instead of opening a new front, the Taliban should urge the resistance based in the valley to join them at the negotiating table and reach a compromise. Afghanistan has witnessed decades of bloodshed and it is the duty of all groups, particularly the Taliban as they have now announced their cabinet, to prevent more conflict. The Taliban’s actions over the next few days and weeks will decide whether the international community grants the new set-up recognition. Therefore, it is in the best interests of Afghanistan for the country’s new rulers to create a truly inclusive administration."

    https://www.dawn.com/news/1645165/new-cabinet

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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    It was Pakistan that launched the medieval barbarism that continues to exist. The Taliban founders studied Islam extremism in Pakistan.
    My post was supposed to read “International” not internal. Fucking autocorrect.
    Anyway, the problems in Afghan go back before Pakistan existed. All countries that have tried to tame Afghanistan have failed over the centuries.
    Lrave them all to it now, to sort out themselves. Sanctions and withdrawal of aid if they don’t allow anyone to leave, so women can still get an education.

  9. #34
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Well 'arry, you can rationalise it all you like- but the fact remains that the US invasion of Afghanistan was yet another expensive, bloody, humiliating defeat. Butthurt?
    Are you stupid?

    I said before it even started that it was a pointless war and they would never win.

    I said the same thing about Iraq.

    I'm not American, why the fuck would I be bothered.

  10. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Are you stupid?
    He is indoctrinated so, ya.

    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    I said before it even started that it was a pointless war and they would never win.
    He forgets about these parts. Apparently, "We" are to blame, yet his nation state of choice supplied troops to the cauldron.

    Important to note that it was not a tactical defeat. Western militaries could have continued wiping the Taliban for another twenty years or forever really.

    If we could admonish the media, then we could decimate them, the way the Russians did in Chechnya twice. Basically by turning them into glass.

  11. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Afghanistan: A curtain divides male and female students as universities reopen
    They had had it quite OK already 30 years ago, before the silly Soviets were tricked into the war...

    Quite difficult to wage a war against mountain people with a powerful leader (and no drones):

    Potential Efforts to Reboot Afghanistan-osamabinladen-independent-jpg

  13. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Well 'arry, you can rationalise it all you like- but the fact remains that the US invasion of Afghanistan was yet another expensive, bloody, humiliating defeat. Butthurt?
    Not quite sure why the mods are hacking away again but:

    Why do you think I disagree with any of that when I said it was a monumental fuck up from the start?

    Same as Iraq BTW.

    Republicans looking to make money, and they made fucking aircraft hangars full of the stuff.

  14. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    They had had it quite OK already 30 years ago, before the silly Soviets were tricked into the war...
    Luckily for Afghanistan you weren't there to assist the Russians into invading and occupying


    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Afghanistan: A curtain divides male and female students as universities reopen

    Luckily it doesn't look staged at all



    Similar to this 'unstaged' photo and many more like it from backward dictatorships





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    Can I presume you didn't follow the link and read the article ph? Suggest you do- it contains critcism and whinges from 'progressive' Afgan ladies too.
    But yes, Universities in Afghanistan have reopened and, surprise surprise, do have female students. Taliban lite?

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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Can I presume you didn't follow the link and read the article ph?
    You presume incorrectly, but the ideas are still that - propaganda because the Taliban know aid will be attached to certain principles . . . and you still can't tell me the photo isn't doctored or staged.

    Photographs shared by Avicenna University in Kabul, and widely circulated on social media, show a grey curtain running down the centre of the classroom, with female students wearing long robes and head coverings but their faces visible.
    A finer group of pleasant-looking and clean-shaven young ladies and gentlemen you'll never see in a war zone and a government run by religious zealots.

    I'll wait until foreign observers get unfettered access before thinking the fanatics have changed, thanks.

    And then you have this piece of shit

    Exiled Ghani apologizes to Afghan people

    (Reuters) - Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Kabul as Taliban forces reached the outskirts of the city last month, apologized on Wednesday for the abrupt fall of his government but denied that he had taken millions of dollars with him.
    In a statement posted on Twitter, Ghani said he had left at the urging of his security team who said that if he stayed there was a risk of “the same horrific street-to-street figting the city had suffered during the Civil War of the 1990s.”
    “Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, but I believed it was the only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her 6 million citizens,” he said.


    The statement largely echoed a message Ghani sent from the United Arab Emirates in the immediate aftermath of his departure, which drew bitter criticism from former allies who accused him of betrayal.
    Ghani, a former World Bank official who became president after two bitterly disputed elections marred by widespread allegations of fraud on both sides, dismissed reports that he had left with millions of dollars in cash as “completely and categorically false.”
    “Corruption is a plague that has crippled our country for decades and fighting corruption has been a central focus of my efforts as president,” he said, adding that he and his Lebanese-born wife were “scrupulous in our personal finances.”


    He offered appreciation for the sacrifices Afghans had made over the past 40 years of war in their country.
    “It is with deep and profound regret that my own chapter ended in similar tragedy to my predecessors - without ensuring stability and prosperity. I apologize to the Afghan people that I could not make it end differently.”



    Exiled Ghani apologizes to Afghan people | Reuters


    So, he fled the country to save lives . . . what a guy

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    Beijing pledges $31m in Afghanistan aid

    By CAO DENGSHENG | China Daily | Updated: 2021-09-09 07:02

    "China has decided to provide Afghanistan with emergency humanitarian assistance worth 200 million yuan ($31 million), State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday. The aid to the war-torn country will consist of food, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines, he said while speaking in Beijing by video link at the first meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighboring countries.

    Wang said that China is also willing to help Afghanistan with projects to improve its people's living conditions when the security situation allows, and support its peaceful reconstruction and economic development.

    China has decided to donate 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Afghanistan, and is ready to provide the country with more anti-pandemic and emergency supplies, he said, adding that China is also ready to study the possibility of resuming cargo transportation between it and Afghanistan.

    Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi chaired the meeting, which was also attended by the foreign ministers of Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It was held one day after the Taliban announced the formation of a caretaker government in Afghanistan, with Mullah Hassan Akhund as the acting prime minister.


    Wang described the meeting as a response to the changes in the situation in Afghanistan, saying that it marks the formal establishment of a coordination and cooperation mechanism by Afghanistan's neighbors.

    The meeting was timely and necessary, as it will send a common message from all of Afghanistan's neighbors, he said, calling on them to use the platform to share their policies, coordinate their positions and jointly deal with the challenges.

    Wang said that the hasty withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan had left the country facing grave challenges, and some international forces will possibly create new difficulties for it by using political, economic and financial means.

    Given the situation, no one is more eager than Afghanistan's neighbors to want it to resume peace and development, he said, calling for the countries involved in the meeting to exert a positive influence on the development of the situation in Afghanistan on the basis of respecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Wang urged the US and its allies to meet their obligations to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan to help it uphold stability and develop positively.

    He also called on Afghanistan's neighbors to guide the Taliban in uniting the nation's ethnic groups and parties to build a broad-based and inclusive political framework, adopt moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies, firmly fight terrorism of all kinds and establish friendly relations with all countries, particularly with neighboring countries.

    He welcomed the positive remarks made by the Taliban on forming the government, fighting terrorism and dealing with relations with Afghanistan's neighbors, saying that the key is translating these into concrete actions. He expressed his hope that the Taliban could honor its commitments and strive for international recognition.

    Wang stressed the need for Afghanistan's neighbors to play a unique role in creating a sound external environment for the country's stability and reconstruction, while addressing their own legitimate concerns.

    He called on the countries to develop coordination and cooperation in helping Afghanistan with pandemic control, ensuring that its border crossings remain open, strengthening the management and control of refugees and migrants, providing humanitarian assistance to the country, deepening anti-terrorism and security cooperation, and developing anti-narcotics cooperation."

    Beijing pledges $31m in Afghanistan aid - World - Chinadaily.com.cn

  18. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    Luckily for Afghanistan you weren't there to assist the Russians into invading and occupying
    Actually, another time (few years before) I was there when the Russians (not only them) invaded my country.

    And we could discuss with the Man on Tank (even if to no avail), however, surviving such discussions.

    Potential Efforts to Reboot Afghanistan-21-8-1968-jpg

    21.8.1968

    Would you serve us with pictures of such "discussions" of the local population with another invading armies? (I know with missiles any discussion is hopeless, isn't it?)

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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    Luckily for Afghanistan you weren't there to assist the Russians into invading and occupying
    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    Actually, another time (few years before) I was there when the Russians (not only them) invaded my country.
    We know about how you helped the Russians invade - nicely done. Success.



    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Beijing pledges $31m in Afghanistan aid
    Amazing . . . $31m, that's keep the country fed and operating for years. All hail a superpower and its embarrassment of riches

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    It will surely be followed by bucketloads more. I wonder if the US is going to release the considerably more substantial Afghan government funds it has frozen?

    Whether they do or not will be a bellwether as to US intentions with the place, I reckon. If they keep them frozen, it looks like their only plan for ghan is continued destabilisation and a base for regional terrorism. If they release them it will show some kind of pragmatic willingness to work with the Taliban, and even play a part in the reconstruction (maybe).

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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    it looks like their only plan for ghan

    "ghan"?

    Are you fucking 12 or something?

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    An insight into the make-up of the Islamic State of Afghanistan's acting, caretaker government, it's members and backgrounds.

    What to expect from Taliban 2.0

    A wiser, better-traveled and social media-savvy Taliban will strive to avoid the many dire mistakes of its 1996-2001 rule


    by Pepe Escobar September 8, 2021

    "The announcement by Taliban spokesman Zahibullah Mujahid in Kabul of the acting cabinet ministers in the new caretaker government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan already produced a big bang: it managed to enrage both woke NATOstan and the US Deep State.

    This is an all-male, overwhelmingly Pashtun (there’s one Uzbek and one Tajik) cabinet essentially rewarding the Taliban old guard. All 33 appointees are Taliban members.

    Mohammad Hasan Akhund – the head of the Taliban Rehbari Shura, or leadership council, for 20 years – will be the acting prime minister. For all practical purposes, Akhund is branded a terrorist by the UN and the EU, and under sanctions by the UN Security Council.

    It’s no secret Washington brands some Taliban factions as foreign terrorist organizations, and sanctions the whole of the Taliban as a “specially designated global terrorist” organization.

    It’s crucial to stress that Himatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader since 2016, is amir al-momineen (“commander of the faithful”). He can’t be a prime minister; his role is that of a supreme spiritual leader, setting the guidelines for the Islamic Emirate and mediating disputes – politics included.

    Akhunzada has released a statement saying that the new government “will work hard toward upholding Islamic rules and sharia law in the country” and will ensure “lasting peace, prosperity and development.” He added: “People should not try to leave the country.”

    Spokesman Mujahid took pains to stress that this new cabinet is just an “acting” government. This implies that one of the next big steps will be to set up a new constitution. The Taliban will “try to take people from other parts of the country” – implying positions for women and Shiites may still be open, but not at the top level.

    Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar, who so far had been busy diplomatically as the head of the political office in Doha, will be deputy prime minister. He was a Taliban co-founder in 1994 and a close friend of Mullah Omar, who called him baradar (“brother”) in the first place.

    A predictable torrent of hysteria greeted the appointment of Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting minister of interior. After all, the son of Haqqani founder Jalaluddin, one of three deputy emirs and the Taliban military commander with a fierce reputation, has a US$10 million US FBI bounty on his head.

    His FBI “wanted” page is not exactly a prodigy of intel: they don’t know when or where he was born, only that he speaks Pashto and Arabic.

    This may be the new government’s top challenge: to prevent Sirajuddin and his wild boys from acting medieval in non-Pashtun areas of Afghanistan, and most of all to make sure the Haqqanis cut off any connections with jihadi outfits.
    That’s a sine qua non condition established by the China-Russia strategic partnership for political, diplomatic and economic development support.

    Foreign policy will be much more accommodating. Amir Khan Muttaqi, also a member of the political office in Doha, will be the acting foreign minister, and his deputy will be Abas Stanikzai, who’s in favor of cordial relations with Washington and the rights of Afghan religious minorities.

    Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of Mullah Omar, will be the acting defense minister.

    So far, the only non-Pashtuns are Abdul Salam Hanafi, an Uzbek, appointed as second deputy to the Prime Minister, and Qari Muhammad Hanif, a Tajik, the acting Minister of Economic Affairs, a very important post.

    The Tao of staying patient

    The Taliban Revolution has already hit the Walls of Kabul – which are fast being painted white with Kufic letter inscriptions. One of these reads: “For an Islamic system and independence, you have to go through tests and stay patient.”

    That’s quite a Taoist statement: striving for balance towards a real “Islamic” system. It offers a crucial glimpse of what the Taliban leadership may be after: As Islamic theory allows for evolution, the new Afghanistan system will be necessarily unique, quite different from Qatar’s or Iran’s, for instance.

    In the Islamic legal tradition, followed directly or indirectly by rulers of Turko-Persian states for centuries, to rebel against a Muslim ruler is illegitimate because it creates fitna (sedition, conflict). That was already the rationale behind the crushing of the fake “resistance” in the Panjshir – led by former vice-president and CIA asset Amrullah Saleh.

    The Taliban tried serious negotiations, sending a delegation of 40 Islamic scholars to the Panjshir.

    But then Taliban intel established that Ahmad Masoud – whose father, the legendary Lion of the Panjshir, who was assassinated two days before 9/11 – was operating under orders of French and Israeli intel. And that sealed his fate: not only he was creating fitna; he was a foreign agent. His partner Saleh, the “resistance” de facto leader, fled by helicopter to Tajikistan.

    It’s fascinating to note a parallel between Islamic legal tradition and Hobbes’s Leviathan, which justifies absolute rulers. The Hobbesian Taliban: that’s a hefty research topic for US think-tankland.
    The Taliban also follow the rule that a war victory – and there’s none more spectacular than defeating combined NATO power – allows for undisputed political power, although that does not discard strategic alliances. We’ve already seen it in terms of how the moderate, Doha-based political Taliban are accommodating the Haqqanis – an extremely sensitive business.

    Abdul Haqqani will be the acting minister for higher education; Najibullah Haqqani will be minister of communications; and Khalil Haqqani, so far ultra-active as interim head of security in Kabul, will be minister for refugees.

    The next step will be much harder: to convince the urban, educated populations in the big cities – Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif – not only of their legitimacy, acquired on the frontlines, but that they will crush the corrupt urban elite who plundered the nation for the past 20 years.

    All that while engaging in a credible, national-interest process of improving the lives of average Afghans under a new Islamic system. It will be crucial to watch what kind of practical and financial help the emir of Qatar will offer.
    The new cabinet has elements of a Pashtun jirga (tribal assembly). I’ve been to a few, and it’s fascinating to see how it works. Everyone sits in a circle to avoid a hierarchy – even if symbolic. Everyone is entitled to express an opinion. This leads to alliances necessarily being forged.

    The negotiations to form a government were being conducted in Kabul by former president Hamid Karzai – crucially, a Pashtun from a minor Durrani clan, the Popalzai – and Abdullah Abdullah, a Tajik and former head of the Council for National Reconciliation.

    The Taliban did listen to them but, in the end, they de facto chose what their own jirga had decided.
    Pashtuns are extremely fierce when it comes to defending their Islamic credentials. They believe their legendary founding ancestor, Qais Abdul Rasheed, converted to Islam in the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, and then Pashtuns became the strongest defender of the faith anywhere.

    Yet that’s not exactly how it played out in history. From the 7th century onwards, Islam was predominant only from Herat in the west to legendary Balkh in the north all the way to Central Asia, and south between Sistan and Kandahar.
    The mountains of the Hindu Kush and the corridor from Kabul to Peshawar resisted Islam for centuries. Kabul, in fact, was a Hindu kingdom as late as the 11th century. It took as many as five centuries for the core Pashtun lands to convert to Islam.

    Islam with Afghan characteristics

    To cut an immensely complex story short, the Taliban were born in 1994 across the – artificial – border between Afghanistan and Pakistani Balochistan as a movement by Pashtuns who studied in Deobandi madrassas in Pakistan.

    All the Afghan Taliban leaders had very close connections with Pakistani religious parties. During the 1980s anti-USSR jihad, many of these Taliban (“students”) in several madrassas worked side by side with the mujahideen to defend Islam in Afghanistan against the infidel.

    The whole process was channeled through the Peshawar political establishment – overseen by the Pakistani ISI, with enormous CIA input, and a tsunami of cash and would-be jihadis flowing from Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab world.

    When they finally seized power in 1994 in Kandahar and 1996 in Kabul, the Taliban emerged as a motley crew of minor clerics and refugees invested in a sort of wacky Afghan reformation – religious and cultural – as they set up what they saw as a pure Salafist Islamic Emirate.

    I saw how it worked on the spot. As demented as it was, it amounted to a new political force in Afghanistan. The Taliban were very popular in the south because they promised security after the bloody 1992-1995 civil war.
    The totally radical Islamist ideology came later – with disastrous results, especially in the big cities. But not in the subsistence agriculture countryside, because the Taliban’s social outlook merely reflected rural Afghan practice.
    The Taliban installed a 7th century-style Salafi Islam crisscrossed with the Pashtunwali code. A huge mistake was their aversion to Sufism and its veneration of shrines – something extremely popular in Islamic Afghanistan for centuries.

    It’s too early to tell how Taliban 2.0 will play out in the dizzyingly complex, emerging Eurasian integration chessboard. But internally, a wiser, more traveled, social media-savvy Taliban seem aware they cannot allow themselves to repeat the dire 1996-2001 mistakes.

    Deng Xiaoping set the framework for socialism with Chinese characteristics. One of the greatest geopolitical challenges ahead will be whether Taliban 2.0 are able to shape a sustainable development Islam with Afghan characteristics."

    What to expect from Taliban 2.0 - Asia Times

  24. #49
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    One of them has a $10m bounty on his head still.

    I wonder if they'll remove it?


  25. #50
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    The Taliban are lying, France's foreign minister says


    PARIS (Reuters) - The Taliban are lying and France will not have any relationship with its newly-formed government, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said late on Saturday before heading for talks in Qatar on Sunday to discuss future evacuations from Afghanistan.


    "They said they would let some foreigners and Afghans leave freely and (talked) of an inclusive and representative government, but they are lying," Le Drian said on France 5 TV.

    "France refuses to recognise or have any type of relationship with this government. We want actions from the Taliban and they will need some economic breathing space and international relations. It's up to them."


    Paris has evacuated about 3,000 people and had held technical talks with the Taliban to enable those departures.


    Le Drian, who is heading to the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday, said there were still a few French nationals and a few hundred Afghans with ties to France remaining in Afghanistan.

    The Taliban are lying, France's foreign minister says

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