[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by JohnR

And it's Trump's fault.

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

You expected different?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Now as Taliban are taking over Afghanistan (again) we need to look at Taliban. Some are saying the Taliban kicked out the Soviet Union from Afghanistan (totally untrue). So let's do this properly. Who are the Taliban vs Mujahideen vs Pashtu vs Afghan.

There are Maganutters, War-mongering Repulsicans and Saudi bots on the rampage now, attempting to extinguish the Saudi connection to the Taliban. So this Thread is necessary. We need to understand. But we go to the beginning. That is the only way to understand.

The most valuable road for human economic history, for over 3,000 years was the Silk Road, or more accurately Jade Road. It connected the largest landmass, Eurasia, where most of the planet's population live, allowed Europe to trade with China, & all in middle.

Silk Road is not one road, it is a series of roads. One side-road leads to India. That road goes through the mountains, through the ONLY pass, called Khyber Pass. This was the most valuable choke point until the modern shipping. Was the 'Suez Canal' of its age.

As Khyber Pass was the only mountain pass to India, you can imagine it was a rich opportunity for bandits. Those enterprising land pirates became known as the Pashtu. Draw a circle 100 miles around this pass, you have region the size of the state of Virginia.

So for CENTURIES, the Pashtu people were known to collect their fees from travellers on the Silk Road. And nobody was able to take this region from them. Literally, none of the great empires ever succeeded from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan.
That gives a firm foundation to build a warrior nation. The Pashtu.

They are Muslim, but not like neighboring Iran, who are Shia, the Pashtu are Sunni Muslim, so they align with Saudi Arabia and against Iran. Bear this in mind, with the propaganda parrots.

In the last 200 years, the main Empires that faced off, on both sides of the Khyber Pass were the British Empire (in India, South) and the Russian Empire (North). Afghanistan emerged as the buffer nation between these two. It is 5 miles West of the Khyber pass.

Afghanistan is far larger than the Pashtu region, about the same size as Texas in area. But HALF of Aghan population are Pashtu. There is no other dominant ethnic group, so Pashtu people get to rule Afghanistan. Afghanistan population is about 32 million.

From the early 1800s, the rulers of Afghanistan have played The Great Game, pitting Russian & British rulers against each other & temporarily siding with whoever was the weaker

Pashtu are EXPERTS at pretending to be on your side, while being on their OWN side

Every time the British got fed up, and tried to take over Afghanistan, they lost. Last time in 1921. Same for Russians. They too lost. Last time in 1989 (as Soviet Union). NO EMPIRE has EVER held this region. So that is the Pashtu who form half of Afghanistan

WHO ARE THE MUJAHIDEEN

Now towards the Taliban. A Marxist (Communist) ruler came to power in Afghanistan in 1973. He aligned Afghanistan with the Soviet Union. Many Pashtu felt, oh-oh, now we are losing to Russia & started guerilla war against the Afghan Govt

The Mujahideen (Mujahidin) were Muslim religious warriors against their OWN Marxist-Communist government then in power, in Afghanistan. They were supported by.. Saudi Arabia of course, as well as from their Pashtu relatives in Pakistan, across the border

When the Soviets invaded in 1979, the Mujahideen guerilla warrior army was already in existence and fighting, who turned from fighting a corrupt government in Kabul, to the invader Soviet Army. Mujahideen at this point supported by Saudi & Pakistan

At Soviet invasion, the BRITISH felt a need to stand up against Russia (Soviets) from historical context & supported the Mujahideen fighters, giving them weapons. USA, after Vietnam loss, was doing very little but some token support. The main funding was Saudi

Because of the Pashtu mountain region of centuries of crime, the NATURAL method for Mujahideen warriors was to go to Afghanistan to fight, & retreat to Pakistan side to rest, rearm & recuperate. The Soviets were not going to invade into Pakistan to chase them

This led to refugee camps on Pakistan side. And to TRAINING camps. Trained by who? The Saudis and Pakistanis. And to educate the Mujahideen. Education by who? The Saudis set up extremist religious schools 'Madrasa' to teach fundamentalist Sharia law

The Mujahideen were able to recruit Muslim soldiers to come fight to liberate the Muslim nation of Afghanistan from the Marxist (Communist) and atheist Soviet invaders. One of many foreign volunteers was US military-trained Saudi Arabian named Osama Bin Laden.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan lasted 10 years. They never got full control. The Saudis & Pakistanis supported the Mujahideen from the start. British & UAE helped early. Americans help came later, but provided Stinger missiles to shoot down the helicopters

The Mujahideen are some of the bravest, toughest warriors the planet has ever seen, and in 10 years, they kicked out the most powerful army the planet had ever seen. Outnumbered and outgunned to ridiculous levels. They won clean and clear. Soviets lost totally

THE TALIBAN

The Taliban had NOTHING to do with any earlier fights Afghanistan had with invaders, and nothing to do with Russia or Soviet Union invasion either. The Taliban did not EXIST. They were born AFTER the Soviets had left.

You remember, BEFORE the Soviet invasion, in 1979, Afghanistan was in a Civil War. So that was just paused for 10 years, to kick out the Russkies, and then the Civil War resumed

THAT is where suddenly the Taliban is formed. To turn Afghanistan into Sharia Law

The Taliban means literally 'educated' and refers to fanatical students from Saudi taught Madrasa schools. The most fundamentalist of students, who think SAUDI ARABIA is not fundamentalist enough !!! (Saudi is FAR worse than Iran, and some think Iran is bad)

The Soviet invasion ended 1989. The Afghanistan Civil War resumed immediately

The Taliban... was not founded until 1994 by two fanatical clerics, Mullah Omar & Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. They took control of Aghanistan in 1996 (winning the Civil War)

The rogue criminal terrorist led nation of Afghanistan under Mullah Omar was in existence until the US invasion in 2001. During those 5 years only THREE countries recognized the monster nation: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan & UAE. Don't tell me Saudis aren't involved

During the Taliban controlled Afghanistan they turned it into a brutal Sharia Law nation. Then when US and NATO forces invaded in 2001, Taliban retreated into caves to fight this latest invasion. We knew that nobody can take the area. That was a doomed mission

Who supported Taliban from 2001 to 2021? Saudi Arabia of course. It was regularly reported. Even the State Department KNEW this but kept it a secret, as leaked State Dept documents revealed in 2009. Iran sees the Taliban as enemy, so of course Saudi fund them

It gets FAR WORSE with Trump & his corruption with Saudi Arabia. Trump among other things wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David on Sept 11, 2019. Trump LIFTED SANCTIONS against the Taliban. And Trump released 5,000 Taliban WARRIORS FROM PRISON in Aug 2020

What of Taliban leaders? in 2010 (during Obama) the number 2 guy of Taliban, Mullah Agdar Ghani Baradar was captured and taken into prison in Afghanistan

Then in 2013 the number 1 guy Mullah Omar died of natural causes (Taliban kept this a secret till 2015)

Then in the ultimate #^&#^&#^&#^&-you to the world, Trump released the co-founder of Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in 2018 - in deal negotiated by Mike Pompeo, a war criminal.

This monster will now run the Taliban controlled Afghanistan

Have a nice day