And right there is the issue: There is no way in hell there won't be any foreign interference, and if the Afghan people aren't too exhausted from decades of civil war, maybe they'll start another one to overthrow the Taliban, and then there'll be another round of death, destruction and poverty in the country.
And that is beyond the fact that people here seem to be awfully eager to put Afghanistan under the rule of the fucking Taliban, you know, the people who got their clout killing communists, who banned women from getting literally any education, and who recently killed like 50 university students in Kabul for the unspeakable sin of getting an education. The State the country is in right now is no good, but letting the Taliban take over again is guaranteed to ruin it for good.
This fate is always destined to happen: as long as there are Salafis with oil money who will bankroll the fundamentalists, and as long as America has military occupations across the Muslim world, organizations like the Taliban will have a compelling draw to potential recruits.
Endless war and occupation is not a workable policy- in fact, it's counter-productive. Would you rather it ended this year, with a Taliban that's stronger than 5 years ago, or in 2026, with a Taliban that's stronger than today? The best time to leave would have been Bush II's first term, and the more presidents we go through who keep it up, the worse it's going to get.
It's an escalation of commitment. You can't keep escalating forever, especially when that means you make the worst people stronger. You have to recognize it and cut your losses.
With any luck, though, China's influence will be less disastrous for Central Asia.
I would say the "best" (with gigantic parentheses) case scenario is making the Taliban negotiate in exchange for the US leaving. At least some conditions can then be set.
And right there is the issue: There is no way in hell there won't be any foreign interference, and if the Afghan people aren't too exhausted from decades of civil war, maybe they'll start another one to overthrow the Taliban, and then there'll be another round of death, destruction and poverty in the country.
And that is beyond the fact that people here seem to be awfully eager to put Afghanistan under the rule of the fucking Taliban, you know, the people who got their clout killing communists, who banned women from getting literally any education, and who recently killed like 50 university students in Kabul for the unspeakable sin of getting an education. The State the country is in right now is no good, but letting the Taliban take over again is guaranteed to ruin it for good.
This fate is always destined to happen: as long as there are Salafis with oil money who will bankroll the fundamentalists, and as long as America has military occupations across the Muslim world, organizations like the Taliban will have a compelling draw to potential recruits.
Endless war and occupation is not a workable policy- in fact, it's counter-productive. Would you rather it ended this year, with a Taliban that's stronger than 5 years ago, or in 2026, with a Taliban that's stronger than today? The best time to leave would have been Bush II's first term, and the more presidents we go through who keep it up, the worse it's going to get.
It's an escalation of commitment. You can't keep escalating forever, especially when that means you make the worst people stronger. You have to recognize it and cut your losses.
With any luck, though, China's influence will be less disastrous for Central Asia.
I would say the "best" (with gigantic parentheses) case scenario is making the Taliban negotiate in exchange for the US leaving. At least some conditions can then be set.