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The eternal quagmire
26/8/21 22:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fridiAfghanistan is an eternal quagmire. Whoever has tried to conquer it, has failed. A handful of imperialist wannabe world rulers have tried, and failed. The US is no exception.
The bad news is, global terrorism is now seeing the perfect chance to resurface. The local branch of Daesh has already made its first move with that attack on Kabul airport (quite predictably, and indeed, predicted by many intelligence services). It was designed to disrupt the withdrawal process, and throw the fragile Western/Taliban withdrawal cooperation into disarray. Note: Daesh is currently enemies with the Taliban. Go figure.
But let's take a look back (because obviously we've all been in the mood for it around here lately). Just to start with a reminder. In 2001, the West's greatest enemy was Al Qaeda, personified by its leader, Osama bin Laden. Twenty years later, the failure is hardly in doubt: jihadism has metastasized, the various extremist groups are both more numerous and with a better geographical distribution, and the problem is not an inch nearer to a solution than it was two decades ago.
( Read more... )
The bad news is, global terrorism is now seeing the perfect chance to resurface. The local branch of Daesh has already made its first move with that attack on Kabul airport (quite predictably, and indeed, predicted by many intelligence services). It was designed to disrupt the withdrawal process, and throw the fragile Western/Taliban withdrawal cooperation into disarray. Note: Daesh is currently enemies with the Taliban. Go figure.
But let's take a look back (because obviously we've all been in the mood for it around here lately). Just to start with a reminder. In 2001, the West's greatest enemy was Al Qaeda, personified by its leader, Osama bin Laden. Twenty years later, the failure is hardly in doubt: jihadism has metastasized, the various extremist groups are both more numerous and with a better geographical distribution, and the problem is not an inch nearer to a solution than it was two decades ago.
( Read more... )
