The Afghan people are exhausted. I’d feel pretty schizophrenic if I had to kill a fellow Muslim even if I had ideological differences. I don’t think like the Taliban. Taliban are fanatical. Islam is a way of life, submission to the Creator. It’s a pledge to follow the holy book rigorously. Literally. West-leaning ‘Liberals’ (whatever that might mean) on the other hand, lack conviction. Are torn and confused. They live in muddied waters, being one myself I can attest to that. It’s Not difficult to understand why entire villages accept the Taliban. They provide healthcare, food, governance and support networks. And rag tag mountain men toughened by harsh lives, have only religion to get through the day. Understanding which a world bank-trained pretentious bureaucrat elected president didn’t regard as a priority. Power is seductive. Seduces completely and makes one delusional. Living in heavily guarded enclaves removes them from reality, much as they may pretend to have an ear to the ground, resonate to the needs of the masses, dress like them.The Afghani army hurriedly trained by American ‘experts’ in the art of war perhaps but without culturally acute insights, was destined to scatter like chaff. Those men are simple folk with basic learning skills, most of them. All they want is to feed their families. Sophisticated weapons? Really? American bureaucracy and army need serious manuals for cultural education. Even the East India company taught basic Hindi to their nabobs! And let’s not pretend that Afghanistan didn’t want to go the way of communism. It did. That struck dread in the state department and pentagon. The bogey man of communism must be put to rest. Cold War ended years ago. To me it’s not the American intel failure that is appalling. It’s the void of cultural education. Americans are dazed with disbelief. Why?? No amount of time and money spent in the name of Jeffersonian democracy imposed patriarchally on a country like Iraq or Afghanistan can be sustainable. It’s artificial. A huge disconnect. The west is contemptuous of Muslims. We feel it in every fiber. To strip us of selfhood with an assumption that the west is raising us out of the pit of so-called ignorance and chaos is an arrogant attitude. We are not children of a lesser god. The cradle of civilization has been laid waste by American interference.
On a different note, America can redeem itself by at least acknowledging that Palestinians deserve clean drinking water and basic homes like the Israelis enjoy. No one questions American allegiance to Israel. But to constantly declare fealty and ignore the dire plight of Palestinians is a moral crime. I’m not proud to be American these days. A little honesty goes a long way.Thanks for reading my rant!!!My next rant will deal with how Taliban treat women. Now that’s a real concern. Btw, ISIS, ISIL DAESH are far worse.
Be safe and well. 🙏🏽
