[News] The Taliban ask for help

[Live by the sea]

It should come with some stipulations, like let girls go to school. Or raise the marriage age up from 12 for young girls. Or stop beheading non believers.

Yes we should help, but it does prop up a very suppressive and corrupt regime.

Good point .

 

[cloud]

Indeed, if folks want them to join a progressive world, you need to show them it’s worthwhile.

Kill them with kindness, it will blow their minds.

In theory, yes. Except that's not the way that fundamentalist Islam works. They will think you are a fool, agree to whatever you say, and then do what they want. I have family out there. They despise us and think we are a walkover.

 

[Swansman]

In theory, yes. Except that's not the way that fundamentalist Islam works. They will think you are a fool, agree to whatever you say, and then do what they want. I have family out there. They despise us and think we are a walkover.

They don't have to walk over anything. Too much work. All the Talibans had to do to get the mighty NATO to go home was to tell them to **** off.

Anyway, it is only fair. A lot of Westerners despise non-Westerners.

 

[Springal]

Get the Saudis to help them - PIF can give them a bit of money

 

[LamieRobertson]

bbc have just slipped out this news story

Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from universities amid condemnation

The move further restricts women's education, after girls were already excluded from secondary schools.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[B-right-on]

The bloody mess we've (US and UK) have made of that country is just embarrassing. Yes it's a lot to do with the Taliban, but we've gone in and made it worse.

 

[ozzygull]

bbc have just slipped out this news story

Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from universities amid condemnation

The move further restricts women's education, after girls were already excluded from secondary schools.

www.bbc.co.uk

They must be really really frightened of women being educated. *ucking cowards.

 

[GT49er]

The bloody mess we've (US and UK) have made of that country is just embarrassing. Yes it's a lot to do with the Taliban, but we've gone in and made it worse.

Us and the US to blame again, at least partly. Yeh, it's just as if the Russians never invaded Afghanistan at all, doing as much, and probably more damage, as anybody else - and I don't think they were even pretending to try to help the people of Afghanistan!

 

[A1X]

They must be really really frightened of women being educated. *ucking cowards.

Most religious fuckwits are.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Us and the US to blame again, at least partly. Yeh, it's just as if the Russians never invaded Afghanistan at all, doing as much, and probably more damage, as anybody else - and I don't think they were even pretending to try to help the people of Afghanistan!

They may not have helped much, but the Russian-backed regime did at least mandate education and equal employment rights for women.

 

[GT49er]

They may not have helped much, but the Russian-backed regime did at least mandate education and equal employment rights for women.

Fair enough - I just felt it was unreasonable to label us and the US as the villains of the piece, whilst ignoring that Russia were too - not to mention the worst villains of the lot, the Taliban, a despiccable bunch of wicked, bitter, spiteful old men!

 

[beorhthelm]

The bloody mess we've (US and UK) have made of that country is just embarrassing. Yes it's a lot to do with the Taliban, but we've gone in and made it worse.

no, it's all to do with the Taliban, not the countries that tried for two decades to keep the Taliban at bay. we only failed in giving hope to that generation, only to be let down by those inthe country who said they'd take over.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Us and the US to blame again, at least partly. Yeh, it's just as if the Russians never invaded Afghanistan at all, doing as much, and probably more damage, as anybody else - and I don't think they were even pretending to try to help the people of Afghanistan!

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier."

Kipling - The Young British Soldier

No outside power has EVER won in Afghanistan. Not us, not the Soviets, not the US / Allies. It's an ultra conservative tribal society with just about the worst terrain and climate to ever win a war in.

We can tut forever at the ultra religious government and lack of women's rights but we'll never fix it. Largely they need to be left to themselves. However, perhaps where we could help is taking in those who want to escape such a regime with kindness and compassion instead of forcing them into rubber dinghies, banging them up in disease ridden jails and failing to send them to Rwanda.

 

[GT49er]

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier."

Kipling - The Young British Soldier

No outside power has EVER won in Afghanistan. Not us, not the Soviets, not the US / Allies. It's an ultra conservative tribal society with just about the worst terrain and climate to ever win a war in.

We can tut forever at the ultra religious government and lack of women's rights but we'll never fix it. Largely they need to be left to themselves. However, perhaps where we could help is taking in those who want to escape such a regime with kindness and compassion instead of forcing them into rubber dinghies, banging them up in disease ridden jails and failing to send them to Rwanda.

Fully agree with your post - until the last sentence, where you appear to have confused Afghanistanis with Albanians.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Fully agree with your post - until the last sentence, where you appear to have confused Afghanistanis with Albanians.

While the growth in Albanians is well documented, in 2021 there were nearly 2000 asylum applications from Afghans, the third highest year in history. Unsurprisingly, the Taliban are cited as a reason for growth and in many applications.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

A Country that's been almost permanently at War - we were fighting there in the early 19th Century!

Russia, USA, UK - and plenty of others to blame. It's a Country with a troubled past and unfortunately it appears a troubled future - a Country that the west should be staying well away from. Democracy simply doesn't work for all Countries.

Brezhnev, followed by Bush and Blair all have blood on their hands - as of course do The Taliban.

Added to that , the way that Biden pulled out was an absolute disgrace (and us too of course but we had little choice once Biden made his decision) - leaving thousands of people who had worked for the Allies behind. As for Raab - words fail me when it comes to his behaviour during the withdrawal.

 

[Blue3]

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier."

Kipling - The Young British Soldier

No outside power has EVER won in Afghanistan. Not us, not the Soviets, not the US / Allies. It's an ultra conservative tribal society with just about the worst terrain and climate to ever win a war in.

We can tut forever at the ultra religious government and lack of women's rights but we'll never fix it. Largely they need to be left to themselves. However, perhaps where we could help is taking in those who want to escape such a regime with kindness and compassion instead of forcing them into rubber dinghies, banging them up in disease ridden jails and failing to send them to Rwanda.

Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan but he knew to cement the deal he needed to marry the local war lord’s daughter Roxanne, something Bush or Blare flatly refused to do

 

[B-right-on]

no, it's all to do with the Taliban, not the countries that tried for two decades to keep the Taliban at bay. we only failed in giving hope to that generation, only to be let down by those inthe country who said they'd take over.

Do you know who funded, trained and equipped the Taliban to start with?

The CIA mostly.

 

[GT49er]

Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan but he knew to cement the deal he needed to marry the local war lord’s daughter Roxanne, something Bush or Blare flatly refused to do

Well, she was getting on a bit by then .......................

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Having reread the thread from the beginning, what happened after the Taliban asked for help? Presumably 'we' didn't 'help'. The extensive wiki page about the Taliban makes no mention of this.

I posted some ramblings earlier about where does one draw the line in terms of engaging with and helping regimes that don't behave like 'us'. There is no clarity of purpose in the west; we neither declare that "we do whatever is in our best interest" nor "we interact with others based on our judgement of the way they behave", but we often conjure weasel words based on each of these stances. I guess I was never cut out to be a diplomat.

My view is that we would like to find a way to make the Taliban be nice, but we cannot. Nor can we destroy them without triggering mayhem around the world (even if we wanted to destroy them, which apparently we do not). Yet another Catch 22 situation to ponder.