In Search of "Moderate Talibaners"

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Stephen Pizzo (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

But Afghanistan ain't Iraq. Hell, Iraq looks like a western democracy next to Afghanistan. If goats could immigrate, they'd flee Afghanistan in favor of Iraq.

And the Taliban aren't Sunnis. True, both the Sunnis and Taliban both once ran their respective countries before the US stepped in and shuffled both decks. But Iraq's Sunnis were actual Islamic moderates. When they ran Iraq they ran it with a brutal but businesslike efficiency of a John Gotti or Bernie Madoff. The Taliban, on the other hand, ran Afghanistan pretty much the same way the Khmer Rouge ran Cambodia. In other words, the Sunnis were soft core insurgents. The Taliban are hardcore, all the way to the core.

Finally al Qaida is not the hated interlopers they were considered in Anbar Province, Iraq. Al Qaida and the Taliban are viewed by most Afghans the same way Texans viewed (and still view those rustic characters who fought to the death at the Alamo against Mexican invaders and would-be occupiers.

But one thing I am quite sure of; there's at least one similarity between Sunni insurgents in Iraq and Talibaners in Afghanistan – both are always happy to accept free guns and free money from Uncle Stupid.

I feel better getting all that off my chest. I still have no idea what the right course of action would be in Afghanistan. I mean, now it's sort of like Bush was a doctor who blew an antibiotic treatment. He could have knocked out the infection with persistence of care. But he wasted that moment of opportunity by stopping too soon so he could tend to “another matter.” As a result all he accomplished was to breed a whole generation of antibiotic resistant Talibania-horrendous.

And, rather than ridding that backward nation of it's even more backward Taliban we are now reduced this strategy; try to subvert the dyed-in-the-wool, highly motivated and annoyingly skilled Taliban so we can turn the country over to the phony, dishonest, lazy malingering, underachieving Talibaners -- then leave.

So far the only part I like about this plan is the leaving part.

1 | 2

Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a (more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.