Inventor wrote:
Regretfully we are doing worse in Afganistan. Boys of ten and old men are called insurgents. Those who do not join the army of occupied Afaganistan, had best vanish.
In the local culture a man puts on his hat and coat, to go to the village, on the way out the door picks up his AK-74, and joins with the other men to talk. Villages are in tribal areas, and the local men provide the services of police, army, and mostly drink tea. Many of them fought the Russians, with little outside help. Their tribes are related, blood, marraige, for the last thousand years.
The Americans did supply some help to fight the Russians, and the deal was, you should rule yourselves. They won, and they produced their own government, and even ended opium production.
Their government was made up of religious students, because they do not trust politicians. Taliban were sworn to uphold the faith. From an Afgan point of view it worked well for ten years, where tribal warfare was low level, but constant, as it had always been.
The main group is Pashtun. As were the Taliban. The Northern Tribes are not. They are a minority, and another culture. Under Pashtunwari, the code of conduct, hospitality is demanded. Everyone is entitled to at least three cups of tea. A guest is protected, and someone who served your cause moreso. Those who came to stand with them and fight the Russians could often not go home again.
They were freedom fighters who put their lives on the line to do what is happening in Egypt, Tunisia, and all over the mid east. Self rule, elections, and getting rid of the people who have been in office since the cold war.
It is their culture and their way, and Arabia was tribal, until the British armed the Saud Tribe, not long ago, and now they call themselves The Royal Family. They even made war on Mecca and took it from the rightful keepers. It is an offense to the tribes and the religion.
So yes, some did want to export revolution, and bring freedom from Kings set up by western powers.
Imagine Obama supported by the Chinese and ruling till one of his daughters becomes Queen. Then her children and theirs.
Their cause is just.
The tribes are bound by blood, and if you kill one, they are obligated to revenge. It is better that a hundred more die with honor, than one death is forgotten. This is friends, and also generations to come. They will take revenge.
They are the only people who beat Alexander the Great. He tore down their houses, cut their trees, filled wells and irrigation ditches, killed any he could find, and they won, for they will never quit. They will truly fight you to the last man woman and child.
When the mighty wanted to pass through, they sent people bringing gifts to ask, and permission was granted. Gengis had a problem with Iran, passed through and back, after removing all traces of three large cities from Iran. He turned them to grass.
Balbour when he invaded India, gave gifts, passed through, and won a land.
The Afgans have always been a social and good hearted people. To those who treat them well.
When the British invaded, they did not come as friends, and those who made it out alive, never wanted to go back. The Crown did, so there was a second invasion, with the same result.
When all thirteen time zones of Russia invaded, the war continued, Russians died. Lots of Afgans died, they never stopped, in fact one of their tactics is just wearing out an invader, and when they start falling back, that is when the all out attack comes. When the Russians left, the Afgans killed all who supported them.
They are not insurgents, they are the people. They will not be ruled by anyone but themselves. They will fight till the invaders leave, kill everyone who supported them, then go back to tribal ways, and fighting with each other. It is their chosen form of government, and has worked since before Alexander.
The choice is ours, we can lose tomorrow, next week, month, year, ten years, a hundred, we will lose, so how long do we bleed?
During the cold war there was a movie that showed Russian citizens in their homes, picnicing on the grass, playing sports...the young, the old...the innocent. It was a very controversial movie because it potrayed the Russians not as the iron curtian, or as the evil of the world, but as everyday people. If more people like you show our enemies are fellow humans, I`think war would not be so attractive.
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All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.
-James Baldwin
18 Jul 2011, 11:28 pm
