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2021-07-15 Afghanistan

Taliban Control Spin Boldak Crossing in Kandahar, and beyond

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Posted by trailing wife 2021-07-15 00:00|| || Front Page|| [16 views ] Top
File under: Taliban

#1 when are they going to evacuate the embassy?

Posted by Chris 2021-07-15 01:16|| 2021-07-15 01:16|| Front Page Top

#2 I must have missed something.

FOX - Fmr top US general in Afghanistan gets 'well done' upon return, as Taliban take key border post with Pakistan

Posted by Besoeker 2021-07-15 04:40|| 2021-07-15 04:40|| Front Page Top

#3 Taliban demand the release of SEVEN THOUSAND insurgent prisoners in Afghanistan in return for ceasefire lasting just THREE MONTHS

Posted by Skidmark 2021-07-15 08:18|| 2021-07-15 08:18|| Front Page Top

#4 Shaving or smoking is outlawed and women are banned from leaving the house in Taliban-controlled parts of Afghanistan as the terror group implement their harsh Islamic rule

I don't mind stay-at-home women that smoke, but I do prefer them shaven.

Posted by Skidmark 2021-07-15 08:33|| 2021-07-15 08:33|| Front Page Top

#5 "There is heavy fighting in Spin Boldak, only a few parts of the district remain, all checkpoints have collapsed," said Qudratullah, a resident in Spin Boldak.

I may be mistaken, but this appears to be a Pashtun name. The Pashtuns are the core of the Taliban. Asking the Pashtuns about the progress of the war is like asking a black South African whether the ANC should be in charge.

I don't think non-Pashtuns are fighting for honor. They're fighting for their lives. The quick way to end the Taliban would have been to slaughter the Pashtuns and push them into Pakistan. The problem is what happens when we leave and the Pakistanis send the Pashtuns back over the border, this time with Pakistani regulars backing them up. Pakistan has 200m people. Afghanistan has 40m. Anyhow, Strategypage suggests that the Taliban are staging what amounts to a Mazar-e-Sharif-style pogrom:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Mazar-i-Sharif_(1997%E2%80%9398)#Recapture_and_massacre_(August_1998)

Excerpt from Strategypage:

https://strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20210706.aspx

So far this year civilian deaths are up 40 percent compared to 2020. Most of the increase comes from the Taliban policy of killing non-Pushtun civilians while offering Pushtun civilians the option of surrendering without violence. This is the custom in Afghanistan and characterized the unfinished civil war that ended in 2001 when the Americans intervened on the side of the largely non-Pushtun Northern Alliance. The Taliban are confident it will be different this time, because they have more drug money and access to Pakistan for illegal import items and access to the outside world.

I respect Strategypage, but disagree that Taliban drug money can match Uncle Sam's $400m a month. Not to mention the huge amounts of cached equipment and ammo that are the fruits of 20 years of salting away by each of the provincial warlords. We talk about corruption like it's this great evil.

In Afghanistan, if you're not corrupt, you're the patsy. When push comes to shove, you'll be pushed off the podium because you have no army of your own and no weaponry. Don't think of these people as citizens in a nation state where the government gives everyone a fair shake.

Think of these warlords as barons under King John. When he comes for you, you'd better have a big enough army to kick his ass back to where he came from, because he will take everything you own unless you stop him.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2021-07-15 13:25|| 2021-07-15 13:25|| Front Page Top

#6 Can not show you the rest of Her, have already lost one mobile screen due to 'Sudden Pixel Explosion 💥 Syndrome'

Posted by Kofi Big Foot8811 2021-07-15 13:37|| 2021-07-15 13:37|| Front Page Top

#7 Mmm feet!

Posted by KBK 2021-07-15 21:05|| 2021-07-15 21:05|| Front Page Top

#8 +2 Zhang Fei

Posted by KBK 2021-07-15 21:07|| 2021-07-15 21:07|| Front Page Top

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