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What a load of tosh. Getting kicked out of Vietnam was far more harmful and humiliating than Afghanistan. It's not exactly a great moment in American history bu
by simonh 5y ago
What a load of tosh. Getting kicked out of Vietnam was far more harmful and humiliating than Afghanistan. It's not exactly a great moment in American history but in terms of actual power and influence in the world Afghanistan is irrelevant. Losing those conflicts has, and will, have no real long term consequences for the US. Geopolitically they were both distractions.
I feel bad about that in the case of Afghanistan, we sold those people out. Allowing the return of the Taliban is a disgraceful dereliction of duty that will have dire consequences for many Afghans, but it won't make any difference whatever to America. I suppose it might 'embolden their enemies' or something nebulous like that.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoTo be fair the 2021 Taliban are a hell of a lot better than the 2001 Taliban (who's leadership is pretty much all dead at this point). The latter is a lot less racist (which in this case translates to less marginalization of the local minorities) and not unwilling to embrace the technology that underpins a modern economy. I have a hard time seeing the Taliban as being worse than anything else that could fill that vacuum (ISIS did them a favor in that regard).
- 542354234235 5y ago>Taliban (who's leadership is pretty much all dead at this point). Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban, is out of prison, signed the agreement on behalf of the Taliban for the US withdrawal, and is the top political leader. Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network (a pre and post 9/11 ally of the Taliban) is a top deputy. Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of founder Mohammad Omar, is a top deputy. Mullah Mohammad Omar died of natural causes. Jalaluddin Haqqani died of natural causes. That really doesn’t sound like an ideologically transformed Taliban to me.