Come Mister Taliban, Tally Me Banana

[Andross Darkheart]

As you already know, the Taliban quickly took over Afghanistan the moment U.S. troops withdrew. They were in control of the country twenty years ago before the U.S. invaded. Recently the Taliban defeated resistance fighters who were holding out against them in the Panjshir valley, the last bastion of resistance. China is already in talks with the Taliban about adding them to their Belt and Road Initiative. The Taliban already announced their cabinet members for their new government, despite saying they wanted a inclusive government, all the members are Taliban fighters, as expected, none of which are woman. The Ministry of Women's Affairs seems to have been abolished altogether. The said they are going to enforce strict Islamic and Sharia laws. But, they did claim they want healthy and respectful relationships with their neighbors. From guns to government.

I'm interested in keeping an eye on what happens with the Taliban in Afghan. I imagine it will lead to oppression, tyranny, civil unrest and endless terrorist attacks. It is kind of funny in that every Muslim wants a country ruled by Islamic law but no Muslim wants to live in a country under Islamic law, heh.

 

[Wheelimus]

I predict nothing but pain for the Afghani people, as sad as that makes me to say. The Taliban haven't changed and never will. Expect brutal executions and women mostly confined to their homes. Sad all around.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Every single person at the upper levels of the Pentagon and the State Department should be fired.

 

[Patch]

SPOILER ALERT: They won't be.

Honestly, everything I've read has led me to the conclusion that while some things could have gone better, the overall outcome wasn't going to be any different.

 

[Rhinox]

Yeah.
I'm not at all happy with the return of the Taliban, but this absolute collapse and shitshow of the shill government we've been propping demonstrates there was no other outcome.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

If they didn't know the government we were propping up was still a hopeless house of cards after all this time, then they failed to see what was really going on there while repeatedly telling us that we need to stay there forever in order to have that intel on the ground.

And if they did know the government we were propping up was still a hopeless house of cards after all this time, they should have been planning our exit from the moment of that realization.

 

[Andross Darkheart]

The collapse of society was remarkably fast. Twenty years of military training and trillion of dollars spent in equipment only to have it fall in one weekend. There were soldiers fighting in this war that wasn't even born when it started.

It has been going on for so long it is really hard to say who is ultimately to blame for this mess. Was it the person who started it without an exit strategy, the people who prolonged it, the military industry that profited off it, the guy who decided to end it but messed it up or was it the Afghan government that failed to protect itself?

 

[wonko the sane?]

Ultimately the blame lies on the guy who decided to empire build instead of ally build.

 

[Andross Darkheart]

Ultimately the blame lies on the guy who decided to empire build instead of ally build.

And who was the one who decided that?

 

[wonko the sane?]

hug if I know: probably the same guy who decided that they needed five star hotels instead of farms and power plants.

 

[Andross Darkheart]

**** if I know: probably the same guy who decided that they needed five star hotels instead of farms and power plants.

Yeah, that is the problem, no one is really sure who is to blame for this. The blame can be evenly spread over a collection of people at fault for this. Namely the entire American government over the past twenty years.

 

[Rust]

I for one hope Afghanistan is the last time my country decides to "nation build". Looking back on the last 50 years of it, we clearly have no ******* idea what we're doing.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Yeah, that is the problem, no one is really sure who is to blame for this. The blame can be evenly spread over a collection of people at fault for this. Namely the entire American government over the past twenty years.

Probably significantly longer than that even. Because the taliban were originally a US funded counter movement meant to overthrow... hug, someone or other in the first place.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Communists, probably. They were the go-to Boogeyman for a long time.

 

[Cybersnark]

I remember a few years ago I did a Star Trek timeline, and the Taliban rose to power right around the time the Eugenics Wars were supposed to be ending (late 90s).

Maybe they were fighting Khan.

 

[Patch]

If they didn't know the government we were propping up was still a hopeless house of cards after all this time, then they failed to see what was really going on there while repeatedly telling us that we need to stay there forever in order to have that intel on the ground.

And if they did know the government we were propping up was still a hopeless house of cards after all this time, they should have been planning our exit from the moment of that realization.

Oh, they probably knew, they were lying about it for years. We found this out a while ago: https://www.thedailybeast.com/afgha...y-lied-to-by-us-officials-over-unwinnable-war

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Can we trade them for all the American citizens still stuck in Afghanistan?

 

[Autobubbs]

I feel there is plenty of blame to go around for this fluster cluck. From Dubya's choice not to finish off the Taliban and instead invade Iraq, to Trump's little 'peace treaty' releasing the Talibani reinforcements, to Biden's timeline with lack of strategy, and the biggest being the Afghani military/Government that just wouldn't stand up and fight. This is a horrible deal all around. A horrible deal all around in which our soldiers and the Afghani people are the ones left to suffer from the outcome.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

But hey, the military/industrial complex made out with billions, so that's a win, right?

 

[Daith]

SPOILER ALERT: They won't be.

Honestly, everything I've read has led me to the conclusion that while some things could have gone better, the overall outcome wasn't going to be any different.

The truth to any country in Islamic held territory. Anyone who's actually tying to make a decent place for anyone over there eventually is going to get ran over by backwards thinking extremists because their religion tells them they have every right to be shitty to everyone else outside their sect. At least that's the gist I always seem to get. The Taliban better hope China or Russia wants to fund their butts because they won't be getting the same ammount of aid we were giving them anymore.... At least I hope. We do have a history of backing the wrong guys at times.