Since the Mongol invasion in 1219.after which Kabul became the capital of the Mughal Empire, nobody has ever managed to invade and conquer Afghanistan. England failed spectacularly in the 19th century and Russia of course had to give up their fight against the Taliban and withdraw in 1989, after ten years of debilitating war. The Taliban were of course strongly supported by the United States in their hysterical fight against communism. [2]
According to Graham Fuller, the planned strategy of President Obama for subduing what is now called the AfPak region is also bound to fail.[3]
"For all the talk of "smart power," President Obama is pressing down the same path of failure in Pakistan marked out by George Bush. The realities suggest need for drastic revision of U.S. strategic thinking.
-- Military force will not win the day in either Afghanistan or Pakistan; crises have only grown worse under the U.S. military footprint.
-- The Taliban represent zealous and largely ignorant mountain Islamists. They are also all ethnic Pashtuns. Most Pashtuns see the Taliban -- like them or not -- as the primary vehicle for restoration of Pashtun power in Afghanistan, lost in 2001. Pashtuns are also among the most fiercely nationalist, tribalized and xenophobic peoples of the world, united only against the foreign invader. In the end, the Taliban are probably more Pashtun than they are Islamist.
-- It is a fantasy to think of ever sealing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The "Durand Line" is an arbitrary imperial line drawn through Pashtun tribes on both sides of the border. And there are twice as many Pashtuns in Pakistan as there are in Afghanistan. The struggle of 13 million Afghan Pashtuns has already inflamed Pakistan's 28 million Pashtuns."
Asia is coming on strong
The formerly pretty much despised and ignored Asiatic countries, considered uncivilized and weak as compared to the rich Western nations have for quite some time now showed their muscle in terms of economy and resistance to the U.S. playing of the Superpower game. After the International Monetary Fund, when asked for help by those countries, instead of saving them managed to thoroughly ruin their economies, Asian countries have now gone together to take matters in their own hands, forming a kind of Asian IMF. The 10-member ASEAN organization [4] who already had substantial economic impact has recently formed an agreement with China, Japan and South Korea to create a $120 billion currency pool from which smaller countries can borrow. In this way the less wealthy Asian countries will turn to a monetary fund of their own [5]
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