Afghanistan After The

[emmie]

American, British forces leave, experts are suggesting that the Taliban won't be able to wrest back control, i wonder...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25879217

[jake-the-peg]

I suspect they won't completely

I'd predict a civil war in under 6 months with the existing powers maintaining a control of Kabul and some areas and the Taliban slowly eatining into all but the capital

Much like Somalia

[anotheoldgit]

/// Nowadays the Afghan army and police are an impressive body of men (and to a relatively small extent, of women), who have been thoroughly trained and show a real pride in themselves. ///

Yes but can they be trusted? they haven't been proven trust worthy in the past, when they have murdered our own soldiers.

But if the majority of them are trustworthy, then perhaps they have every chance to keep the Taliban in check, because thanks to the West they have the superior equipment, and they won't be fighting with one arm tied behind their backs, like we have been forced to do.

[Ken4155]

We can only hope and pray that everything pans out for the better. Because if it doesn't, the loss of every soldier to have died out there will have been in vain.

[emmie]

Ken, sad for me to say such a thing, but our presence has been for nothing, i really don't think that the Afghani forces that have been trained will be sufficient, nor the Afghan police, it's still a lawless largely uncontrolled country, and terrorist fighters, guerillas, fare better at fighting in it because of it's terrain. The Russians came unstuck, as we did long ago, and can't see this working well in the future.

[Barks]

Just like when the Russians pulled out it will break down into a turf war with various tribally aligned warlords slugging it out.
Whether the Taliban will be able to beat these factions into some sort of order and impose some form of relatively stable government as they did before the west upset the apple cart remains to be seen

[emmie]

Barks, what the Taliban did was far from order, it was totalitarian, and not pretty.

[emmie]

this was then, women had much more freedom before the Taliban came calling.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/know-how-women-lived-in-afghanistan-before-taliban-rule-15883.html

[Peter Pedant]

No the taliban will be back
hacking - shooting and chopping and otherwise bringing the joys of islamic law to a reluctant and unwilling peple....

[emmie]

PP, i am pretty sure that is what will happen, some Afghani people were interviewed on the news, and they expressed the same fear.

[emmie]

barks, this is what the Taliban imposed on the women

http://www.rawa.org/rules.htm

[Ken4155]

Must admit, though i have always been a glass-half-full guy, i share your fears. Let's hope we're wrong.

[naomi24]

The presence of the west has been a complete waste of time, money, and lives. The Taliban have never gone away. They're waiting in the wings.

[emmie]

Naomi, that is exactly what i think, they have been biding their time.
I pity the ordinary Afghani, more Islamic laws, rules, and the women going on the photo's i have seen even more put upon.

[Barks]

I don't disagree Emmie, it was totalitarian but compared with the utter anarchy left after the Russian withdrawal it was an order of sorts under which the life of the average Afghan did begin to improve

One of the main points of contention that led to the Russians being dragged into a war they did not want was the Afghan communists imposition of womens rights on a traditionally male dominated feudal society

If you look at our history, we were a far more mature society before womens rights were even considered and arguably there is still a way to go

[emmie]

Barks, the Taliban ruled with an iron fist, even more sharp than Stalin, or Mao, and that would be saying something.

[emmie]

these are the sort of photos i was talking of, appalling

http://www.feminist.org/afghan/taliban_women.asp

[emmie]

Barks
from the link, is this what they are still facing, i suspect so

Upon seizing power, the Taliban regime instituted a system of gender apartheid effectively thrusting the women of Afghanistan into a state of virtual house arrest. Under Taliban rule women were stripped of all human rights - their work, visibility, opportunity for education, voice, healthcare, and mobility. When they took control in 1996, the Taliban initially imposed strict edicts that:

Banished women from the work force
Closed schools to girls and women and expelled women from universities
Prohibited women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative
Ordered the publicly visible windows of women's houses painted black and forced women to wear the burqa (or chadari) - which completely shrouds the body, leaving only a small mesh-covered opening through which to see
Prohibited women and girls from being examined by male physicians while at the same time prohibited female doctors and nurses from working

[jake-the-peg]

Of course as I recall we didn't invade Afghanistan to remove the Taliban but rather to get Osama Bin Ladin and remove Al Qaeda

Both of which have been achieved

I seem to have missed the UN resolution that approved the use of force to bring democracy and human rights to the country

[mikey4444]

I was once very pro the West going into Afghanistan, as the Taliban were behaving atrociously towards their own people. They are still doing it, as the attack on the little girl for wanting to go to school testifies, but I have no great feeling of confidence when the allied forces finally leave.

It is an uncivilised country, with largely uneducated and backward people, and we can't expect to work miracles in just a few years. It all very depressing.

[emmie]

Malala Yousafzai is from Pakistan.