excellent report from the south of Afghanistan on Channel 4 last night. just showed us the facts without telling us what we ought to think about them. a rarity indeed for British journalism. And what we saw was frightening. Schools being burned, teachers reputedly murdered ( I declare an interest) and a totally ineffective police service.
Tempting to think that the British Army are the solution.
First time I've actually heard the views of Talib fighters and their supporters. The gun men seemed most concerned about the schools imposing non-Muslim values on them. The farmer that economic support for agriculture was needed from the government before eliminating the poppy was an option. Either way they are not going to welcome the British.
We've actually been here before. When the Russians entered Afghanistan in 1980 they were invited in by a progressive government that for the first time provided opportunities for women in a secular, democratic society based in the larger urban areas. We all know what happened subsequently; not only did the red army fail to export this secular society to the rest of Afghanistan, it was eventually holed up in Kharbul and crawled back into the USSR in disgrace.
Without American help, this time, the Taliban may not fare so well but neither will the British subdue them; it'll drag on and on with neither side gaining the upper hand as it did in the north of Ireland.
I don't have a problem criticising the Taliban just because Muslims in general are under threat. I have no respect for men that treat women like cattle but those women are not going to welcome the soldiers with open arms. Its their country, the Talib fighters are their men: their husbands, their brothers, their sons. If a foreign army invaded Britain no section of society would see it as an opportunity to gain advantage, why should anyone expect Afghans to behave differently ?
What would undermine the Taliban would be a prosperous, secular alternative that would provide a real pole of attraction to those under their influence. Unfortunately the power installed by the American and British armies, the former warlords of the Northern Alliance are scarcely any better.