I wish the US had spent its efforts and resources towards completely eliminating the Taliban as an institution and ideology rather than kind of shoveling money around to opportunists with no skills for organizing people or maintaining loyalty. I think what happened instead was that the US was afraid of sparking a new movement that would eventually operate outside of its control so it funded what it thought it could control: rich assholes.
And now the religious fascists are back in charge. Wheee.
Well, there’s also that bit where we funded fundamentalists during the cold war to try and fuck with the soviets, and the imperialism we and the soviets did that led to radicalization. A problem that we exacerbated which bit us back in the ass a few decades later.
American occupation actually strengthened the Taliban compared to before the US came, so America does bear some responsibility for this. Left to their own devices, the Taliban would've likely collapsed under their own weight, but now it's likely they'll stick around for while because of Chinese support.
Do you see that collapse coming now that the Taliban have total control? Because that was the situation before the US invaded. We should have smashed Al Qaeda and then left, telling them that from now on, we'll leave you alone as long as you leave us alone.
Do you see that collapse coming now that the Taliban have total control?
I mean I did say they now have Chinese support where at the time they'd have been more or less on their own.
Because that was the situation before the US invaded.
Untrue. The pre-2001 Taliban saw fierce resistance from the North Afghan Alliance, among others, and didn't control all the country's territory. Compare to now where there's no meaningful resistance to their reign of terror.