• chlooooooooooooo [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    they don't have a play. there's no grand unified strategy behind american foreign policy anymore, not regarding afghanistan anyway. what's the benefit of staying anymore? the global empire is in deep trouble and the occupation is heavily unpopular domestically. the play is to refocus on other theatres where american influence is also waning (cough cough, latin america) and forget about far flung regions which have already bled so much debt and political capital from the imperialist machine.

    like, what would another decade of occupation accomplish for western capital? the taliban are clearly going nowhere. the nation building project is a failure and it'll only get more unpopular. the only reason i could think of for the US to remain involved is to try and fuck with Belt and Road, but even then, it's not like afghanistan is particularly essential to it.

    • CrimsonSage [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Correct and it actually benefits attempts to disrupt the B&R by ensuring the region is as chaotic as possible. Fund proxy groups and other religious fundamentalists and hope the conflict spills in the neighboring regions. That give US agencies tinder to spark flames in the wider region, or just let it go and let the Chinese play in the chaos.

      From a US perspective the only reason to maintain a presence there is access to the massive mineral wealth, but with no way of getting it out denying it to china is just as good as having control over the region. The real nightmare scenario for the empire is the Taliban actual gaining affirmative control and making nice with China for capital investment. While there is some evidence that is where things are going, there are lots of ways Alphabet agencies can fuck with the situation.

      • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        there are lots of ways Alphabet agencies can fuck with the situation.

        On the other hand, if the alphabet agencies really had substantial power to fuck with the Taliban, they would have done it by now.

        • CrimsonSage [any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Maybe maybe not. The taliban as a hostile insurgency is different from a neutral governing party. Also having a enemy occupying your homeland has a way of unifying very mutually hostile factions temporarily.

          The US leaving very likely could leave it with a stronger hand on many ways. While it is fun to jeer and mock the empire for its stupidity, it did manage to climb to the top of the pile of corpses so i wouldn't underestimate it.