-- On 21 Nov 2001, at 16:37, Blanc wrote:
But what I anticipate would happen at that point is another Afghanistan, with ten thousand bloomin' territories full of prickly warring tribes and war lords.
The first thing which happens after a power vaccuum is created is that another group steps in to "establish law and order", with the acceptance, support, and relief of the majority (coincidentally, right now it feels like the Taliban is growing on these shores).
History repeats itself. What would prevent it from doing so again?
Untrue: The Taliban was not a spontaneous internal phenomemom, not a response to an outcry for law and order. There were repeated, massive, and bloody efforts by foreign powers, primarily Pakistan, to "assist" the aghans in achieving law and order, and the Taliban is only the most recent, and most bloody, of these. Far from reflecting a spontaneous desire for government, law and order, these various wannabe governments found it necessary to devastate and depopulate vast areas that they were unable to govern. The Taliban was only able to achieve "law and order" with massive external support, and an ever increasing number of foreign troops backing it up. The foreigners would first back one group to form a government, and that group would fail catastrophically with enormous bloodshed, then they would back another group, and that group would in turn fail catastrophically with vast bloodshed, huge areas devastated by scorched earth policies where they killed everyone who did not flee, then bulldozed the houses, dynamited the wells, filled in the irrigation ditches, attempting to make any area they could not govern an utterly barren wasteland where nothing would grow and no one would live, and then finally, after two very bloody tries, the foreigners attempting to create a government backed the Taliban on their third try. As we speak, the British and American governments are quarreling because the British want to have another go, a fourth try. Each try has been bloodier, and more devastating, than the last. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG cRg7JGoYdXPyChmZe2SAQnElDNwHyGBzITWPWrrs 4kii0RA8WhRGusD3fban6iTFdm3wenZpwBbqGP7IE