Taliban

[CRNDLSM]

Did you hear about the people jumping onto planes and falling from the sky?  I sure hope they bring peace to the region

[TranquillityBase]

Afghanistan has a population of 33 million. The Taliban number, at best, a 100,000 or so. The best thing we can do is support the humanitarian organizations that are trying to keep the population fed. They will have to cater to the Taliban, but they are the only entities that are only interested in helping.

Afghanistan's curse is that it's caught in the middle of Iran to the west, Russia to the north and China to the east. I doubt any of those countries have the interests of the Afghani people in their heart. The U.S. is going to turn its back on them as fast as it can, because we failed and we can't accept that.

They've been invaded twice in the last 40 years. Certainly they are overdue for a period of peace. The Taliban are claiming that they've changed and want to bring peace back to the country. I guess we will find out how truthful they are about that.

[busker]

I was in high school when the Taliban rolled into Afghanistan. I remember the hanging of Najibullah reported in the papers. And some years later, the Bamiyan Buddhas.
A harsh, brutal society. The Taliban do, unfortunately, represent the will of the Afghan people - or at least the Pashtun majority. Nothing else can explain its overnight recapture of everything.
Some places are just meant to be swamps.

[Poetry In Motion]

Why are the Taliban back all of a sudden?

[CRNDLSM]

Because 'the news' - seems like theyve always 'been' there

[dukealien]

As I understand it, and pretending to no expertise on the subject...

The Afghan Taliban was a creation of Pakistan (ISI) to control  Afghanistan (which they consider a threat because the Pushtun/Pashtun live on both sides of the border with Pakistan).  Pakistan is paranoid  (also about India) and ISI uses that.  There is another Taliban in Pakistan which ISI does *not* sponsor or control through the Haqani (sp?) Network.  The principal activity of the Afghan Taliban until recently was to provide muscle for Afghan drug (heroin) gangs.

Pushtuns are a plurality (not a majority - 40%?) of the people living in geographic Afghanistan.  The Afghan Taliban is a small percentage of Pushtuns, but controls with extreme/traditional violence surpassed only by the local Islamic State ("ISIS") franchise.  I am led to believe that most Afghans, including most Pushtuns, would very much like to be rid of the Taliban (as well as ISIS and foreigners in general, including those who live in the next valley).

Since Pakistan has nukes it is not possible to root out ISI, causing the stalemate which existed until the US resigned the game.

[busker]

That’s a more or less accurate summary
The army is the de facto ruler of Pakistan, and the ISI is the army’s baby
Pakistan armed the Taliban to create a compliant government in Kabul in the 90s but it backfired in the form of the Pakistani Taliban having access to the same weapons and fighting the Pakistani army.
The same thing can happen this time. The one difference is China, who have it in their interest to train the Taliban on India, thereby keeping them out of Xinjiang’s Moslem problem.

[CRNDLSM]

More news that sounds like it's from the onion but isn't...

Insider: Sept 19 2021

'There isn't any fighting here anymore' — Taliban commander says some fighters are worried they'll miss their chance at martyrdom now that they're in control

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Taliban fighters are struggling to adjust to their new roles maintaining security now that the group has regained control of Afghanistan after being ousted 20 years ago, The Washington Post reported. 
Fighters who were trained for roles such as suicide bombers are now running security in Kabul. Commander Abdulrahman Nifiz told The Post that the 250 fighters under his control were not used to the lack of fighting.

[TranquillityBase]

Well, there's a poem there amongst the insane absurdity of this news article, I mean, a poem about a Taliban warrior grieving over a lost chance for martyrdom, while he directs traffic and bullies helpless women.

[CRNDLSM]

There's a challenge idea, wrote a poem based on a news article