The inherent contradition Taliban bring is direct result of them being true to Islam. While rest of us can play double game of being Muslim when it suits us but on the sly avoiding the practical manifestation of being a Muslim. Mean we are all talk and they are do the walking.
What do I mean? As a Muslim your loyalty to is to Islam and Muslims. Nation states take second place. In short Islam is trans-national whereas as nation states are national.
So when AQ came knocking who also believed in Islam as the defining feature of their outlook making them also above any nation state or tans-national. Taliban of course gave them sanctuary.
No other Muslim country was prepared to give OBL refuge simply because it would invite US angst. All other countries placed self interest above trans-national Islam. Taliban of course place their religion first and Afghan state second. Thus they refused US requests and paid the price for that.
Stupid as it was it practically demonstrates what you should do if you place Islam first. Of course within Pakistan we also have certain groups think Islam comes first like TLP as we saw how they wanted France to be punished come as obligation to Islam despite what price Pakistan state might have to pay.
@Indus Pakistan I think you might find a comment in one article I read recently that might share your views on the Taliban and Afg in general, eventhough Afg isnt covered as much as it was in the War on Terror in the 2000s there is interesting anylysis coming out about the conflict these days
Effort-poast coming through:
A portion of the Taliban leadership has lived in Doha, Qatar in the last 15 years. Their wives are with them. Their children were born in modern hospital with quality nurses and top doctors from allover the world.
They enjoyed climate-controlled appartments and houses with modern appliances. They travelled around in Qatar in comfortable SUVs on smoothly paved roads.
They had reliable electricity, water, waste-disposal and fast internet connection – thanks to a large corp of foreign experts and a huge army of foreign guest-workers – the majority of them were/are not Muslims. Local supermarkets have all the fine food from allover the world and was avaible to them thanks a generous allowance from the Qatari emir.
The Taliban leaders and their families were seen going to entertainment & sport facilities and shopping malls. Their children went to international schools with modern equipment and competent teachers – many of them were not Muslims. There are rumors that the older children are now attending universities in the Gulf region under pseudo names.
—> Those Taliban leaders are going to have alot of discussion with their families, when the Taliban establish themselves after conquering Kabul.
–> Don’t they want the same comfort and safety for all Afghans or at least for the Pashtuns?
–> How does Afghanistan finances those comfort for the Taliban elites – nevermind the average Talib fighter and his family – in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan?
–> Are they expecting their wives to start going to the water-pump/river again and wash clothes with their bare hands?
–> Do they like to see their relatives die, because Afghan healthcare can mostly not even provide basics?
–> Yes, the Gulf emirates have their modernity/comfort/infrastructure by selling oil/gas – but at least they have something to share with the world and learned to hire/work with/trust the foreign experts.
If the Taliban want those for themselves or the Afghans – they have to sell something to the foreigners.
NO – selling heroin won’t be enough.
–> Yes in the first few years the Taliban might renege on some portions of their promises – like women’s rights.
But reality is a cruel rapist. There is nothing you & the toughest Talib can do about it.
–> How long will the Taliban be rulers if they don’t find jobs for the soon to be 300 000 young people entering the labour market every year?
–> How long will the Taliban be rulers if Afghans are dying in the hospitals?
–> How long will the Taliban be rulers if Afghans are going hungry in the streets?
–> How long will the Taliban be rulers if Afghan farmers are hit hard by climate change?
–> Does a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan need remittances from emigrants abroad? Emigrants, who hate the Taliban.
–> Afghans might be poor and distressed, but they can see the world on their cheap smartphones – at least they want to see a road to prosperity & want to see Afghanistan being a respected country. They are not like the isolated North-Koreans.
–> Will be the Taliban be able to deliver this road-map? With engineers and managers or with recitations of the Quran?
Taliban are fighters and warriors. Victory over the Americans/NATO and the local lackeys might give them some prestige around the world and a few years/decades of euphoric “building the new Islamic society”. But victory and peace always grinds warriors down.
It took nearly 12 years from the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 to the 6th party congress in December 1986 for reality to defeat the Vietnamese communists. Let’s see how long it will need to defeat the Taliban.
Remember folks, the Western countries, Russia, China and emerging countries like Turkey don’t need Afghanistan, BUT Afghanistan needs our knowledge, tech, consumers, tourists, capital and investors alot.
Four ideologies emerged during the 19th century: liberalism, socialism-communism, fascism and jihadism. Two ideologies have already landed in the trash-can of history.
Liberalism is heading there too by going through the local pride-parade.
Jihadism had not the chance, because so far they only had two years in Egypt and 5 years in Afghanistan. The sooner the Taliban rule Afghanistan, the faster Jihadism lands on the
[Epistemic status: Low, I don\'t know much about Afghanistan, nor does it interest me much (except for the fascination multiple empires seem to have in expending their treasure there]. There appears to be a near consensus that the Taliban will take over most of Afghanistan soon after the US...
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