The Taliban in Their Own Words: interesting stories of individual Afghans

[rasmasyean]

These is a pretty interesting excerpts from individual Afghans who experiences the war firsthand. enjoy! :)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/216235/page/1

[Peterkro]

I'm not reading an article that forces you to watch ads between pages.Newsweek is *****.

[skunk]

Simply reinforces the obvious conclusion that Afghanistan should be left to its own devices.

[rasmasyean]

The problem with the country and its people is they need to find some way of sustaining an economy other than fighting. They would just fight each anyway because that’s all they have known for the past decades. Part of that fault goes to the US incidentally, who used them as proxy combatants during the Cold War. It was funny watching the CIA clips of a white dude telling a bunch of Afghans that they would go to heaven when they die in battle or something like that. LOL

So the result is some fairly useless land which barely anyone really cares about enough to truly develop it…and hence turning it into a wasteland for people who “find their calling in battle” where they make an excuse to duke it out there. And I’m sure there are many parties who profit from this “opportunity” as well which exacerbates the problem. The world tried to leave them alone before and obviously the US at least felt the repercussions with that. So if the US / UK has to stay to “control” some of that bloodlust, then they will do it.

[Peterkro]

The problem with the country and its people is they need to find some way of sustaining an economy other than fighting. They would just fight each anyway because that’s all they have known for the past decades. Part of that fault goes to the US incidentally, who used them as proxy combatants during the Cold War. It was funny watching the CIA clips of a white dude telling a bunch of Afghans that they would go to heaven when they die in battle or something like that. LOL

So the result is some fairly useless land which barely anyone really cares about enough to truly develop it…and hence turning it into a wasteland for people who “find their calling in battle” where they make an excuse to duke it out there. And I’m sure there are many parties who profit from this “opportunity” as well which exacerbates the problem. The world tried to leave them alone before and obviously the US at least felt the repercussions with that. So if the US / UK has to stay to “control” some of that bloodlust, then they will do it.

Have you ever been to Afghanistan? Because it's not the midwest doesn't mean it's wasteland,it has after all been supporting it's population for thousands of years.

[xlii]

Read the article... it's turned into Vietnam.

[Eraserhead]

I'm not reading an article that forces you to watch ads between pages.Newsweek is *****.

Tl;dr

Taliban were thrown out of Afghanistan, went back and gained a foothold due to Karzai's corruption and lack of economic improvements meaning the ordinary Afghani's often prefer the Taliban to the Americans (or don't think one is better than the other).

[skunk]

The problem with the country and its people is they need to find some way of sustaining an economy other than fighting.It's hard to sustain any kind of economy when you are constantly living under military occupation and a corrupt puppet government is bleeding you dry.

So the result is some fairly useless land which barely anyone really cares about enough to truly develop it…and hence turning it into a wasteland. It is not a "wasteland", it is a mountainous, landlocked country with a pastoral and agrarian economy, which has survived intact far longer than yours.The world tried to leave them alone before and obviously the US at least felt the repercussions with that. So if the US / UK has to stay to “control” some of that bloodlust, then they will do it.What "bloodlust"? The US and the Pakistani ISI armed them to the teeth to fight their proxy war with the Russians, and the US got too pally with the Saudis and too ensconced in the Arabian peninsula.

[BoyBach]

So the result is some fairly useless land which barely anyone really cares about enough to truly develop it (sic)…


Not heard of the opium trade, then?

[hulugu]

It's hard to sustain any kind of economy when you are constantly living under military occupation and a corrupt puppet government is bleeding you dry.

It is not a "wasteland", it is a mountainous, landlocked country with a pastoral and agrarian economy, which has survived intact far longer than yours.What "bloodlust"? The US and the Pakistani ISI armed them to the teeth to fight their proxy war with the Russians, and the US got too pally with the Saudis and too ensconced in the Arabian peninsula.

Agreed, but as I understand it today, wasteland may be a harsh, but accurate term. Since the Soviet invasion many of the waterworks have been destroyed or have broken down and thus a significant portion of the fields are now desert.

This could change, but there are sections of Afghanistan that were once orchards and fields that now look like the US 'dustbowl.' Of course, Afghanistan is a huge country, but people tend to think the entire place looks like the rocky, dusty mountains of Tora Bora.