Something I wanna add, the Taliban is indeed a majority Pashtun organization but in the last couple of years, they've really started to recruit people of different ethnicities and even shia's. There are Tajik, Uzbek military commanders. Pretty sure there's even one Hazara commander. In any event, plenty of districts fell without firing a bullet. For example, a Tajik commander knew the tribal elders in a district and convinced them to surrender and be spared the bloodshed. This recruitment of different ethnicities and religious sects serves as propaganda for the Taliban and made it a lot easier for them to prevent a Northern Alliance 2.0.
That is something I've noticed, the Taliban seem much less radical and revanchist then they were in 1996. While a Taliban victory isn't ideal, it seems like it isn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Surprisingly it seems that 20 years of war have moderated them, rather then radicalizing them further as you would have expected
@Depresso Caspico the Taliban and the Mujahideen are not the same thing. America supported the Mujahideen, who after falling to the Taliban(created by the Pakistani Interservice Intelligence) in 1996 formed the Northern Alliance, who were the basis of the new Afghan government established after the coalition invasion in 2001
@@Ray-fk4vh Lol you Really think it was about Bin Laden?? It was about money, minerals, diamonds and Opium! But they did not expect the stiff resistance of the Taliban.
In 1992 when he was a young reporter he wrote an article about the final Soviet withdrawal (with that country’s dissolution)…history really can be so circular .
How did we win lol I tell you short answer my friend?. See Taliban aren't the Latinos Taliban aren't the blks we don't take a George Floyd and just sing and dance and beg for fairness from white oppressors. Taliban are people who will fight you and disrespect you right back.. You see the flag planting picture just like ww2 how many times have the infidels disrespected the arab men? Many now you have a taste of that back.. The blks and latinos should take note.. You can not play koi with people who think they are king's on earth because they were born white.. ALLAHU AKBAR🏴🏴
basically the former government got comfortable with the nato aid while the taliban actually learnt from their previous mistakes doing far more diplomacy than raw oppression. let's just hope for the sake of the people living there they continue that approach to avoid insurgencies.
Don't get your hopes up, they won't do that once they feel the have enough security. That's the way it is with extremists; Get in power, then kill the opposition
@@Ghost12314 oh I know things are gonna get bad, main reason why I'm worried for the people. I personally couldn't have cared for the previous government noting it barely had control to begin with and didn't make the people care for their cause, and with how corruption leading to its downfall seems like my opinion was correct, just yaknow Taliban weren't on my list for worthy replacements
It wasn't really diplomacy. The taliban policy was basically standard extortion and they used the same policies to take over the 1990s. The offer is always that you can fight us and die.....or stand aside and live for a while. The bad policies of the Taliban in the old days were when the leadership would order things done that were self-destructive and pointless. Like when they blew up the old statues and got international coverage. Or when they decided to take on the US after 9/11 and wouldn't listen to anyone (including pakistan) about the consequences of that. I think the current leaders of the taliban are still dumb guys, but they are less dumb than one-eyed Omar and the gang who provided the leadership in the 1990s.
When the Taliban took Kabul in '96 they had direct military assistance from Pakistan, how much the ISI influences them now I don't know. The Carter administration on July 3rd '79 began providing assistance to opponents of the Afghan regime, Zbigniew Brzezinski was asked if he regretted this decision. 'Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it?' The region will be haunted by the consequences of that decision for decades.
The seeds of that conflict were planted years before, and not by any American. Before any American assistance came in, the communist government was already waging a brutal civil war with entire divisions deserting their army, not to mention rival communist gangs killing each other in the capital along with multiple coups. If Americans want to repudiate their country's role in Afghanistan's descent into civil war, they can do so without trying to make the US the center of the world.
This time it was Taliban's own victory because some in Afghan army were selling their weapons to the black market. Also China Russia Iran are fine with current takeover
I work with quite a few ex British soldiers who served in Afghan. Many of them have said that in part, a big issue has been the inability of Afghan security forces. According to one ex-squaddie, whenever they went on patrol with Afghan soldiers, many of them would be high on opium and would even smoke it whilst on duty, to the point whereby under fire, they'd run into the firing line shooting their weapons into air whilst laughing their heads off. Others would cower in fear at the first sign of trouble and expect our guys to do the fighting, so in the words of one of the guys I spoke to, "If they aren't prepared to fight for their country, what was the F***ing point in us being there"
Well, if the most cowardly of them were willing to join the British and NATO allies, and the rest joined the Taliban, what does that tell you about the invading forces? That they were not there to restore peace or establish justice. Good people do not attract cowards.
@@1994mrmysteryman majority of Afghans support Taliban and new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan...so you are right about that Sir. You are one of the first few Westerners who realise this! Respect to you!
It's interesting that the "Ghost Soldiers" thing also happened in South Vietnam I think that's just what happens when you bring in literal plane loads of cash to a poor country
@@RADIZ2013 I am aware of this idea. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Norway are nations that rely heavily on an economy based solely on natural resources (oil) and have no corruption issues. Australia relies heavily on natural resources (minerals) again, no corruption issues. If what you see is true, these nations would not function as they do.
I was in Afghanistam in 2014 and everything mentioned in this video caught my attention when I was there. I knew what we are witnessing right now was gonna happen exactly the way it did, and this quickly. I'm sick of the media bubbles trying to blame politicians here in the US for what happened because clearly the media and people who pretend to be experts have never stepped foot in Afghanistan.
I was there 2008-2010 and I called this back then didn't plan that the moron in office would leave 90billion worth of equipment though let them keep there heroin junkies and chai boys I personally have zero respect for them because they refuse to defend there land.
@@CtheDead209-zt8tj They did, it's pretty hard to defend your country when the insurgents are better fed, armed and trained then you are. Not everyone gets to call in a A-10 to solve their problems like American soldiers can.
It feels a bit wrong even "liking" this video. History hits different when it's not yet firmly in the past. But thanks for covering the current events.
@@paiman95able yes they were Afghan. Afghan criminals and terrorists. The vast majority of the war in Afghanistan was fought between Taliban and Afghan military. The US had a pretty minor involvement overall after they killed Osama in 14
Thank you Hilbert. Consistently excellent video, as always! Recently spent some time with a childhood friend who's spent the last 20 years serving in the US army, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and asked his opinion on the withdrawal and fall. His response was that the entire thing was (a) inevitable, and (b) terribly handled by the US...but that he had absolutely no idea how he would have effectively done it any differently. On a side note, my parents were fortunate to have traveled extensively in Afghanistan in the 1970s. They said it was the single most extraordinary country they had ever visited, both in terms of the land and its people. Shortly after they left the Soviets invaded, and we were back to the graveyard of empires routine...
This is the most informative piece of media on the subject I've consumed in literal weeks. Wish the news would report on stuff like this. Excellent video.
The Taliban were essentially dead early on in the war. The movement was essentially reborn in the Afghan countryside as a result of ANA/Coalition behavior in the countryside with mass arrests/repression/raids/airstrikes/corruption and killings.
Talibannn are actually building the country and are treating its people fairly and treating women good. News is all lies. I seen it first hand. The only people that don’t like them are the traitors/thieves/killers/drugggiessss, and shady people because they want to continue their corruption but Talibannn won’t allow them to. Everything u hear and see on tv is a lie. Talibannnn have accepted americas and all of natos surrender and said there will be peace after until last non believers are off the soil. Free facts. Afghanistan defeated america and its 49 allies nato all by the help of God. Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. Learn from history. Afghanistan defeated Alexander the Great, gengis khan, Ottoman Empire, sikhs, Britain on four different occasions, solving union and its 15 allies, America and its 49 Allie’s and the traitors/rats/translators/snitches and many many mannnny other empires/countries all were defeated and humiliated. All those high tech weapons, all those numbers/allies/countries/help , and all that money yet they still lost against 1947 ak47s and 100k freedom fighters/Talibannnn. Good vs evil. God vs devil. If u do not believe in God this will change your mind. Non Afghans will never truly understand how strong Afghans truly are.
Hey Hilbert. Thank you a lot for this excellent video. I was hoping you would do one on this topic since you have done ones on other current conflicts before which gave me a very differenciated view on them as well. Cheers
Yeah, I think the hope was with twenty years, or one generation of support, there were be some change in the attitude. For whatever reason, that did not happen, not even close. It took Europe a millennium to get past feudalism.
@@catsupchutney It'll take a lot less time nowadays with numerous states, their firms, as well as international NGOs bringing in newer technologies (e.g., weapons, communications, infrastructure, healthcare), though the natives will need to assimilate, which will result in lots and lots of displacement, death, and destruction, unfortunately.
This is an excellent factual analysis of the situation of how the Afghan Taliban were able to secure their ultimate triumph in the Afghan War. Thank you for putting this together!
@@Sparticulous nope, imagine how much that has been spent on salaries,equipment and a bunch of shit, thats a lot of money for corporations and bankers and politicians
The way the situation in Afghanistan unravelled reminded me eerily of the Russian language novel Holiday Mountain (also translated as Festive Mountain) written by Alisa Ganieva and published in 2012. It describes an entirely hypothetical scenario where the Russian federal authorities decide that the Islamist insurgency in Dagestan isn't worth the trouble and suddenly decide to withdraw all troups from the region and build a border wall cutting it off from the rest of the country. Dagestan in 2012 and Afghanistan in 2021 have both striking similarities and vast differences, but the thing that sticks out to me the most is the situation where a tenacious and passionate Islamist movement is ineffectually opposed by an ostensibly modern and secular regime which has nothing to offer its citizens other than rampant corruption, petty squabbles between ruling factions and police brutality.
Very interesting. Is there an English translation of that novel? I'm not super familiar with the region but it seems like if Dagestan fell, so would Chechnya.
@@DeathsOnTheYAxis well the book is more of an introspection on Dagestani society than a geopolitical thought experiment. Moscow, the Islamic world and the West exist in it more as vague external sources of cultural influence than as sets of political actors with interests of their own. There is a large cast of characters, but nearly all of them are Dagestani. Additionally, while quitting the Caucasus isn’t seriously considered by any Russian decisionmakers, “stop feeding the Caucasus” is a pretty popular slogan among grassroots Russian nationalists, feeding on base ethnic prejudices and a perception of unfair treatment from the federal government. I’m guessing that the author, as a Dagestani woman who has spent much of her life in Moscow, would be very familiar with such sentiments and would have fantasized about what the logical conclusion of that slogan would actually look like, regardless of its feasibility.
USA: Tell the Taliban off, Afghan National Army, assert yourself! Afghan National Army: Hey that's my provincial capital! USA: Great, now let em' have it! Afghan National Army: You can have it!
We talk as though .....ok...before I go any further.... ......is every body in USA a Democrat ?? .....A Republican ??...does everybody vote, even if of Voting Age ?? So how comes we talk about all Afghans as one group??...or , all Iraqis....or all Iranians....etc., etc... Why don't we mention Children, or women/men, The Infirmed;__ etc., etc. ?? .....when we go on Bombing Operations...???
@Amaan Hussain wait, how does spending nearly a trillion usd benefit us? Also, it's kinda hard to stop a trade like that if you have to stabilize the country first
@@tiredox3788 The Sri Lankan government with the aid of India killed thousands of Tamils civilians because the Tamil Tigers were fighting for autonomy/independence.
This is definitely one of the best analysis videos on the situation that I've seen. Everyone from multiple administrations to our allies and mainstream media ignored the fact that 80 percent of the Afghan Army is high on opium and hash. Vice news exposed that and the corruption of patrol base commanders multiple times and everyone ignored it. Nobody wants to put in the actual work of building a nation from literally the ground up. We didn't learn our lesson from Vietnam now it's biting us in the rear again.
Don't let that VICE documentary warp your world view. Yes there is corruption but the real story was more complicated than that documentary presents it to be. Its not true that no one wants to do the nation building. A huge number of people flooded into Afghanistan since 2002, for exactly that purpose. It was interesting how many varied groups came from all over the world to try build a healthy, democratic enlightened nation.
@@alphabet_soup123 Well the thing is Democracy may not be what countries like Afghanistan needs. Implementing a Democratic government into a tribal country might be one of the first mistakes here. The only time I ever remember Afghanistan actually being unified is when it was a monarchy that all tribes serve under.
@@imlivingunderyourbed7845 we want Shariah Law in Afghanistan without Western interference as Afghanistan is 99.99% Mualim. Taliban are doing a good job at being a centralized government. The problem is the petty US sanctions and the US theft of the Afghan assets, both which is making the humanitarian crisis which started under the US-Ghani regime worse becausethe new Afghan govts hands are tied so they can'tbuild the economy & country back faster. The great thing about the new Afghan government is that they are honest, ethical and work extremely hard...they are leaders who aren't afraid of hard work and not politicians who just talk crap and lie. Another problem is that all sectors were left in a mess under the US-NATO watch and they know this but don't ever speak about it and blame the our new Afghan govt.
It sounds like the coalition was still trying to win the "hearts and minds" of the people there and they figured it wouldn't be helpful to call them out for getting high all the time. If they could have waited until they were off duty it might not have been so bad but everyone needs to be totally focused while on duty in case they run into an ambush.
The tone of hopelessness and permanence of the situation in this video is so depressing. This literally happened a couple weeks ago but it’s being talked about like 2001 is.
This was a great video. I know I can trust this channel since it seems like one of the few that was consistently talking about Afghanistan before it got trending after its downfall
@A Fels Taliban is Pashtun dominated and Pashtun live on both sides of the border. The border means little to them and Pakistan can't do anything about it. They control a checkpoint now. Major powers could not defeat them and Pakistan suffered with their resistance also. If the world can't beat these tough mountain people then let them rule their land. The largest tribe in Afghanistan also is Pashtun so let them rule.
@@mahmudshiil135 Why are they claiming sovereignty over non-Pashtun areas? It seems like a double-standard to behave in such a way. All of these groups - foreign and domestic - are too power-hungry to even entertain a multi-state solution. It hardly even comes up.
@@fuzzydunlop7928 i don't condone it but it is obvious the largest ethnic group in every country wants to rule and dominate the politics and Pashtun are the largest, they believe in Taliban and they said they will build inclusive government. Let's see how that works out for them. The world can't do anything now.
@@Alaryk111 China really hopes they're in bed with the Taliban. The Taliban's only interested so long as they provide money and weapons, same song different verse.
@@catsupchutney ah yes because you can definetly compare these two extremely different countries/ situations/conflicts. wheres the point? it wont give you ANY answers
How did we win lol I tell you short answer my friend?. See Taliban aren't the Latinos Taliban aren't the blks we don't take a George Floyd and just sing and dance and beg for fairness from white oppressors. Taliban are people who will fight you and disrespect you right back.. You see the flag planting picture just like ww2 how many times have the infidels disrespected the arab men? Many now you have a taste of that back.. The blks and latinos should take note.. You can not play koi with people who think they are king's on earth because they were born white.. ALLAHU AKBAR🏴🏴
The problem the United States did was not governing Afghanistan directly with a military governor. These problems were known for decades in continuous reports. Putting the most corrupt of the corrupt into positions of power rather intentionally or unintentionally was a waste of time, money, and lives especially when your audits showed that it was apparent. At this point I don't know who is more inept the United States government or the Afghanistan government.
Ah, love it when yt commenters discover colonialism. Seriously, the US are what got them into this situation in the first place, suggesting they directly govern is like putting out fire with flaming torches.
ok but.... then what Try to transition to a civilian government later? You'd probably run into all the same problems Just keep the military governor there permanently and make it a colony?
@@jasondaveries9716 if you're crawling, what's the point of me giving you a bicycle if you haven't even mastered walking yet? If you are going to invest in something, you might as well hold the reins into that person is capable to stand on their own.
A interesting follow-up video would be why Afghanistan remained so 'tribal' in the first place and why the attempts at unifying the country failed. Another question I have (but probably goes togheter with the above) is why there was such rampant corruption? Why would the Afghan officials and officers sell away their supplies and keep the loans of the soldiers?
I think it has to do with it being an extremely remote region with many mountains dividing the country which explains why there were so many warlords in Afghanistan
@@gavinisdie Blame america not the soviets. they already where gone when this happened,. sure they wanted to invade afghanistan first. but when pakistan america and israel created the mujahedeen they knew they couldnt win it. the mujahedeen was literally created to fight against the soviets. so the soviet knew they couldnt win after loosing 15K soldiers. and moved themself out of afghanistan. Then the Mujahedeen took over till 1994 when the Taliban was created. created by america israel and pakistan. to fight against the Mujahedeen which like i said was created by america as well. and from that day on all things went wrong as we know. then in 2001 bush invaded afghanistan under lies. Bush told the world that the taliban knew where osama was hidden. but the taliban didnt know. so he invaded afghanistan anyway. the invasion of afghanistan in 2001 was because of 9/11. which as also a false flag created by america israel and saudi arabia. more then half of the hijackers where from saudi arabia. Al Qeada who was behind it. Also an american/israel created terrorist group was responsible for it. with the help ofc of america saudi arabia and israel. so why didnt america attack israel and saudi arabia? well those are their allies. they literally sponsor and have the lead over the american government/congress. Thats how all of this started. not because of the soviets. if you want to talk about something know facst. not some propganda that the west have been telling you.
@@metalvideos1961Dude you sound like Kim Jong un over here ranting about western propaganda when the monarchy’s destruction had nothing to do with America😂
@@gavinisdie The Monarchy was toppled by the King's cousin Daoud Khan who violently repressed anyone deemed sympathetic to Islamism or Communism, which was what triggered the Communist revolution. The man was an idiot
Many other sources: "The Afghan people just wanted the Taliban" or "The Afghan military are just cowards." H.W.H. : "There are a lot of interconnecred factors and many different independent factors that lead to this".
It’s very different to view anything there when you know someone who is actually trapped in Kabul. It has been a complete nightmare We wait for news everyday that they have found a way out. Thank you for posting this analysis of the situation.
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 thank you 🙏🏽 They aren’t taking any great risks at the moment. They’re waiting for the borders to open. It’s just such a heartbreaking and scary situation.
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 They finally made it back to the US. It’s a long and crazy story. One of the most frustrating parts is that the US government did zero to help them return. This is after countless emails and calls to all of our reps, different agencies etc.
The corruption of the Afghan government and military command made it too unstable to fight the Taliban, to put it short. What I think the US could’ve done instead of leaving entirely was switching to unconventional warfare tactics.
thats exactly what has been happening for nearly the entire war. Special forces units were almost always used successful against the taliban. But this caused them to be overused and strained.
Interesting how the author describes the taliban as a "militia" but proceeds to confirm its total numbers are 70 000, that's 20,000 more than the Canadian armed forces 10000 more than Singapore armed forces
This was MUCH more informative than any news outlet out there (that I have access to). Great work! Been following you through RSS, but now... *subcribe*
Generally a good analysis, though I feel you missed a few essential points, particularly the mistakes of the U.S. made with the occupation, namely: -The ANA was taught the american way of fighting, with air superiority and everything. This was simply unsustainable without american support. The ANA was never set up for functioning without U.S. support. -American operations in Afghanistan, particularly drone warfare and similar tactics, frequently caused severe collateral damage, fueling anti-american sentiment, which in turn gave the taliban a popularity boost as the anti-american group. Beyond the initial driving out of the Taliban, U.S. operations in Afghanistan have for years been essentially counterproductive. -On top of being made up of questionable figures, the Afghan government set up by the U.S. was fundamentally a puppet show, which certainly did not help with inspiring confidence or pride in locals.
ANA still had more weapons and military planes and equipment than Taliban, so stop making excuses for them. Many ANA soldiers realised that there was no reason to fight their own anymore, so didn't fight and were sent home by Taliban. ANA was attacked in many areas when civilians heard that Taliban were on there way. In Khost, civilians mobilized to fight the KPF, the US trained special unit rabid dogs & ANA, alongside the Taliban. You had to see the heros welcomes Taliban got as they rolled through the country in those few days...I guess your media forgot to show u that. Basically, you forgot the most important part...majority of Afghans support Taliban and now the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan government and wanted the foreign occupiers out and that the US had no right to illegally invade Afghanistan. Even atheists were supporting the Taliban, which surprized me too as i thought that they would support the foreign occupiers but an American on Twitter said that his atheist friends were supporting Taliban to get rid of the foreign invaders. August 15th 2021 was the happiest day for majority of Afghans, except those traitors and puppets who lost their power, privilege and paychecks.. Then we watched NATO run away chaotically, which was great, except when many of our ppl were shot by the unprofessional US soldiers firing indiscriminately after the ISKP attack and many Talibs getting killed in the iskp attack too at the Kabul Airport and then the US drone strike Killing 10 Afghans. Only the Afghans who benefited from the foreign occupiers were happy with the foreign occupier terrorists staying forever, no one else. Taliban are Afghans, our own people, not foreign invader oppressors. Taliban fought for 20yrs to free us from the foreign occupier terrorists and their evil puppets. The US should've never been destroying and interfering in other countries, stayed on their own soil and protected their own country instead of apparently allowing 2 planes to be stolen and crashed into buildings but instead they are destroying all our countries and acting as of they are doing something good & are our saviours. We never wanted your democracy. Who wants to be like woke democratic America when we have our own religion, culture and values! Your democracy in itself is a joke...the West is falling apart. Till today, the US can't let go of Afghanistan and is still sanctioning and stealing the Afghan assets and interfering and spying on Afghanistan...move on already, 20yrs was too much, face the loss especially after Taliban were willing to apprehend and try or send OBL to The Hague/3rd country where he would get a fair trial once the US provided proof that OBL was guilty of 9/11 but the US choose to illegally invade and wage a 20yr war causing lose, destruction and sending our ppl to Guatanamo Bay and using enhanced torture techniques there and at Bagram etc.
After watching "this is what winning looks like " I was astounded at the lack of logic and moral character of some of these people, it was sad to watch... this was an awesome video, finding non biased journalism is so rare today
Thats why I say I didn't fight for them I fought for the man to my right and left because after the first 3 months in afganistan I realized we were helping child fucking junkies I feel bad for the women and children thats it most of the men are of fighting age and rather shoot dope and wait for the taliban to take back over....
@Syphax Atlas you think us soldiers get paid well lol... a private makes 20k a year that's less than a fucking McDonald's worker... shouldn't speak on shit you don't know they paid the ANA more per month than we got and we did all the fighting while they fired there guns at nothing just to make noise....
It's crazy how in someplace corruption is just seen as a perk of high authority. At some point you have to ask yourself how many rounds fired into your own foot is enough
I think places with high corruption enable that corruption when folks don't see it as corruption. It made me question what things I see as natural that are really just corruption.
2:00 Fun Fact: The US did something similar to this with South Vietnam. Being forced to signing a treaty that did not benefit the Southern Government such as having Northern troops stay in the South (NVA were in the middle of their Easter Offensive). If they did not sign the US would cut funding which it did eventually anyways. Paris Peace Accords allowed the US to withdraw and get their POWs while both North and South were supposed to re-unify eventually without annexation.
"Being forced to signing a treaty that did not benefit the Southern Government such as having Northern troops stay in the South" LOL. And what credibility did South Vietnam have exactly? South Vietnam formed because they didn't want to lose elections which they would so they said screw democracy and created their own pseudo-state.
The geography definitely is a big reason why the Taliban was successful. It allowed them to operate in secrecy and gave them protection when it came to attacks. Modern guerilla wars are extremely hard to win given they'll simply hide until the larger forces get bored and exhausted from war. The only real way to win is through sheer brutality, but that would look really bad for a modern democracy.
It depends what you call for "win". If the US had left right after murdering OBL they could have just call it a day. But they choose to build a "democratic state" for honestly no good reason. I mean i guess publicity is important, but still a very dumb thing altogether....
@@ShinigamiInuyasha777 "No good reason" is that they wanted stability--a pro-American democratic Middle Eastern country would've been a bonus (pipe dream or not, it would've been a bonus) but at the very least, one less potentially volatile chunk of land right in the middle of Eurasia. Walk in, shoot, and leave doesn't end the conflict; just changes the target to the next warlord in charge. Turns out they couldn't end the conflict anyway.
Did they soviet Union not try to depopulate the area in their war? This is what caused women and children to go to neighbouring countries. These children would find refuge in extremists schools and form the Taliban.
@Illumirage Afghanistan ? More like al qaeda, an international terrorist organisation that has An afghan branch, why didn't they attack all the other branches then?
@@Illumirage Actually no. The Taliban agreed to hand over Bin Laden, who was not a member of the Taliban, if the USA showed the Taliban evidence, but for some unknown reason, the United States decided to invade instead of just letting the Taliban view the evidence and hand over Bin Laden.
I came across an article that points out due to the sino Soviet split, china sent supplies and military advisers to the mujahedeen during the soviet invasion. Wonder how much they got involved.
China had no involvement in afganistan we would have found out if they did amd sanctioned the shit out of them or worse. China's hands are clean as far as the war on terror in afganistan...
I don't get this. A news paper a few months ago would say," Afghan Security Forces could hold out for six months." My first thought as a US citizen: "What happens in six months and one day?" Seeing the writing on the wall. I would have done the same. Afghanistan was a failed State the second we left.
@@AAquese Man, I watched this a week ago? The 2020s have been a hell of a decade. Within the week I watched someone who knows what the hell is going on. There was no easy way we were going to get out of there. That being said I think there are things we could have done a lot differently. Especially if we're going to stay 20 years. We should have made getting our people out a priority. Which we never do? WTF is wrong with us?
Afghanistan was a failed state when the USA bombed it into one 20 years ago !!!! If the USA and russia and the UK left it alone it would have been fine !!!
@@dantheman3022 well that is the thing. We only went in when Russia did to give them their Vietnam. Which... Lead to the Taliban finally giving stability to the area. Which eventually lead to the US going back in. I think be big mis step of the US. Was not getting out immediately after the Taliban was routed out. Or... If the US was going to stay in for 20 years it could have tried to look at historically worked for the region. Then built a State that looked more like that. Instead of making a Western Style D democracy. Let a coalition of regional warlords run the country and maybe those regions could have a lower case d democracy.
This whole thing has been incredibly frustrating to follow... this war had had family and friends part of it since I was just a child... and to see it fall back Into their hands so easily just hurts...
I am sorry for your loss. You should be questioning the real reasons for these wars which is that wars are needed to justify military spending and keep military industrial complex running. No one should die to make these rich pigs more money
@@matthewh7437 what a bullshit excuse to kill innocent people. And i sat innocent because all this started because we didnt want Afganistan to be a socialist nation with health care, equality, and free education but this is what we got instead
"Their hands" is exactly where the majority of Afghans want Afghanistan to be. Your family and friends should not have been in my country. Their filthy feet should not have touched Afghan soil! Majority of Afghans support Taliban and IEA government and are happy that they've regained power...the US were foreign invaders in our country and we lost millions of lives to US hands, our ppl were tortured and sent to Bagram and Guatanamo Bay, raped and other atrocities commited by the US army. Thanks to our Taliban heros, our sons of the soil, we got our freedom from the US & NATO oppressors back and they were sent running.
One of my distinct czn was in the taliban, when in 2001, they(taliban) were removed from power, they surrendered to abdur rashid dostuom for safe passage, but instead, the warloard buried alive the injured one's, and my distinct czn with other 200 Taliban's were locked in a container, and that container was kept in the heat, because of that only 12 of them survived, after that, they were handed to American's, they stripped them of their clothes and marched them naked
USA is the biggest terrorist threat in the world. Don't agree with their ideas or don't align with them? They will constantly try to destroy your country first through economic means and covert operations including fueling propaganda against you, and eventually it turns into an invasion and occupation. Please USA, get out of other countries
The other things were horrible but marching naked doesn't seem THAT bad if it was really as got as you're saying (as long as they got a towel or underwear or something) 😂
@@wantedai6689 ignore them, they didn't lose anyone like we did in Dasht-e Leili. Dostum the rabid dog should not get general amnesty...he should be h u n g.
Before the 2000, Afghanistan was a clash of 3 ideology : westernization, communism, islamist. What changed the capital of Afghanistan from a medieval mindset and technology was the initial westernization. Then because of politics during the cold war the communism faction took power and with an incredibly bad series of decision, turn the country into total chaos. The only faction left was the islamist who took upon themselves to clear the mess made by the communist regime with the financial backing of USA and some islamist countries. After the islamist won they impose strict religious laws and fanatism, making a perfect recipe for Al-Quaeda and other fanatical group to emerge
that is the most inaccurate summary of Afghanistan history ever. the initial "Westernization" you are talking about was done with help from USSR under Daoud Khan who himself came into power with help of the PDPA (which btw despite being influenced by Marxist Leninism wasn't communist). Daoud started acting tyrannical and sidelined PDPA, and when one of the prominent member of PDPA was murdered( Daoud's government was one of the major suspect) PDPA organized major protest. Daoud arrested almost all the major members of PDPA which sparked the Saur revolution when PDPA came into power. Also, PDPA didn't create mess, other than the partial failing of their land distribution program not much bad decision were made. PDPA started modernizing the country even more by giving women more representation, giving them opportunities for education, abolition of dowry, etc. this pissed off the conservatives who started terrorist activities against the government. the government asked USSR for help. US wanted USSR to have their own "Vietnam", so they started funding the terrorists and totally destabilized the country, US continued funding terrorists even after USSR left.
This is a very knowledgeable video! I’ve learned so much and now understand. It’s nice to learn what’s actually happening rather than each political side blame the other. Thank you for the amazing video
Not quite, the Soviet-Mujahideen war lasted from 1979-1989 and the Taliban appeared in 1994. More likely that Rambo's Mujahideen buddies spent the early 1990s killing each other for control of the country and the Taliban mopped them up.
@@grahamcarpenter5135 Not true im fdom afghanistan most the original mujahideen joined the taliban. in fact taliban itself formed as a faction of the mujahideen
Still a win, keeping pressure high enough for long enough so you don't have to win a full-on war. Pretty smart if you ask me. Not trying to defend them though, but if you look at it objectively, it's pretty smart.
Are you talking about biden or trump because I know biden was the one who ended the war but I feel you where blaming trump because everyone else is also calling trump Russia's puppet.
Sums up my analysis as well. The individual Afghans wanted to fight, but the leaders were corrupt. The Americans just didn't want to deal with the corruption in Afghan leadership and just gave up, and the ordinary Afghans have to pay that price.
I worked in college for a gentleman who was a provincial governor under the king and even hosted him at his house for dinner. Most people don’t realize that Afghanistan was relatively stable up until the early 1970s.
The taliban won the same way, communists won in Vietnam. During Vietnam war u.s had to pull back due to heavy protests at home to bring back troops. While in Afghanistan, the u.s had to pull back due to the corruption of ashraf ghani, who had been filling his pockets instead of doing something for afghanistan, ghost soldiers enlistment whose salaries were taken by other soldiers, traitors and deserters within the afghan army and cowards that refuse to fight the taliban and instead choose to cling to aeroplanes and escape. The u.s realised that afghanistan, can not be uplifted like south korea and Japan, thus they left afghanistan and the taliban takeover
@@carboy101 if you ask ordinary people, they despised corruption and "wall street" of Afghanistan built on American securlar capitalistic motivation which lead to corruption and enrichment of 1%, while Taliban actually burnt all poppy fields prior and enacted strict Sharia Law against stealing. It's complicated....
Something I wanna add, the Taliban is indeed a majority Pashtun organization but in the last couple of years, they've really started to recruit people of different ethnicities and even shia's. There are Tajik, Uzbek military commanders. Pretty sure there's even one Hazara commander. In any event, plenty of districts fell without firing a bullet. For example, a Tajik commander knew the tribal elders in a district and convinced them to surrender and be spared the bloodshed. This recruitment of different ethnicities and religious sects serves as propaganda for the Taliban and made it a lot easier for them to prevent a Northern Alliance 2.0.
That is something I've noticed, the Taliban seem much less radical and revanchist then they were in 1996. While a Taliban victory isn't ideal, it seems like it isn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Surprisingly it seems that 20 years of war have moderated them, rather then radicalizing them further as you would have expected
@Depresso Caspico the Taliban and the Mujahideen are not the same thing. America supported the Mujahideen, who after falling to the Taliban(created by the Pakistani Interservice Intelligence) in 1996 formed the Northern Alliance, who were the basis of the new Afghan government established after the coalition invasion in 2001
@@jackwalters5506 it certainly help that the most radical element flocked to the IS-KP. And fortunately, they hate each other.
diversity is good for business, applying corporate principles to warfare that's fascinating
@@bonfire4120 The last thing I or anyone should want is a prosperous Taliban Afghanistan
I knew there was something off about how easily the Taliban won. Makes a lot of sense now.
Exactly. The US made itself their own bed.
There are a lot of misconceptions and critical assumptions, here.
i wonder why the US Government did not see Afghanistan's weakness in corruption.
Should've just pulled out when we killed bin laden
@@Ray-fk4vh Lol you Really think it was about Bin Laden?? It was about money, minerals, diamonds and Opium! But they did not expect the stiff resistance of the Taliban.
Did you mention that president Ashraf Ghani wrote a book titled "How to fix a failed state"? Ironic
Can you please tell me the steps? asking for a friend
In 1992 when he was a young reporter he wrote an article about the final Soviet withdrawal (with that country’s dissolution)…history really can be so circular .
One truly wants to quote Dark Plagueis with that guy
He wrote a book that contained only one line: "I don't know how to fix a failed state."
This is the first major victory for the Islamic world in over 40 years against America's War on Islam.
there is one fact that no one wants to admit: the Taliban are popular in Afghanistan...
I mean anything is better than a foreign army.
@roberttaylor1426 North Koreans will not welcome an American army with open arms. Not a single country on this planet will. Let go of your delusion.
My friend who was serving there in 2009 told me the same thing back then
That’s what happens when a drone strike hits a wedding or a school
This is just not true, north afghanis are oppressed by the taliban
" They have the watches but we have the time"
The Taliban
go to russia and chine donot kill the poor countries.
Lol deadass
@@wadefreeman7340???
Nice pfp
How did we win lol I tell you short answer my friend?. See Taliban aren't the Latinos Taliban aren't the blks we don't take a George Floyd and just sing and dance and beg for fairness from white oppressors. Taliban are people who will fight you and disrespect you right back.. You see the flag planting picture just like ww2 how many times have the infidels disrespected the arab men?
Many now you have a taste of that back.. The blks and latinos should take note.. You can not play koi with people who think they are king's on earth because they were born white..
ALLAHU AKBAR🏴🏴
basically the former government got comfortable with the nato aid while the taliban actually learnt from their previous mistakes doing far more diplomacy than raw oppression.
let's just hope for the sake of the people living there they continue that approach to avoid insurgencies.
Don't get your hopes up, they won't do that once they feel the have enough security. That's the way it is with extremists; Get in power, then kill the opposition
@@sarosp9330 sadly so and most likely they'll punish those who fail to escape discouraging people from emigration
@@sonicmeerkat if you think this is bad then you ain't seeing the worst one and it's gonna come in future.
@@Ghost12314 oh I know things are gonna get bad, main reason why I'm worried for the people.
I personally couldn't have cared for the previous government noting it barely had control to begin with and didn't make the people care for their cause, and with how corruption leading to its downfall seems like my opinion was correct, just yaknow Taliban weren't on my list for worthy replacements
It wasn't really diplomacy. The taliban policy was basically standard extortion and they used the same policies to take over the 1990s. The offer is always that you can fight us and die.....or stand aside and live for a while.
The bad policies of the Taliban in the old days were when the leadership would order things done that were self-destructive and pointless. Like when they blew up the old statues and got international coverage. Or when they decided to take on the US after 9/11 and wouldn't listen to anyone (including pakistan) about the consequences of that.
I think the current leaders of the taliban are still dumb guys, but they are less dumb than one-eyed Omar and the gang who provided the leadership in the 1990s.
When the Taliban took Kabul in '96 they had direct military assistance from Pakistan, how much the ISI influences them now I don't know. The Carter administration on July 3rd '79 began providing assistance to opponents of the Afghan regime, Zbigniew Brzezinski was asked if he regretted this decision. 'Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it?' The region will be haunted by the consequences of that decision for decades.
The seeds of that conflict were planted years before, and not by any American. Before any American assistance came in, the communist government was already waging a brutal civil war with entire divisions deserting their army, not to mention rival communist gangs killing each other in the capital along with multiple coups. If Americans want to repudiate their country's role in Afghanistan's descent into civil war, they can do so without trying to make the US the center of the world.
No, Pakistan doesn't control them now. They only listen to Pakistan because of the 1979 Connections.
This time it was Taliban's own victory because some in Afghan army were selling their weapons to the black market.
Also China Russia Iran are fine with current takeover
@@BrorealeK Hell the whole reason Pakistan funds insurgencies in Afghanistan is because of the Durand line, which was drawn by the British in 1893.
@@Vuosta It was Mohammed Daoud Khan's failed military invasion that did that not the British.
I work with quite a few ex British soldiers who served in Afghan. Many of them have said that in part, a big issue has been the inability of Afghan security forces. According to one ex-squaddie, whenever they went on patrol with Afghan soldiers, many of them would be high on opium and would even smoke it whilst on duty, to the point whereby under fire, they'd run into the firing line shooting their weapons into air whilst laughing their heads off. Others would cower in fear at the first sign of trouble and expect our guys to do the fighting, so in the words of one of the guys I spoke to, "If they aren't prepared to fight for their country, what was the F***ing point in us being there"
you all invade their country so you all should die for them! 🤣
Well, if the most cowardly of them were willing to join the British and NATO allies, and the rest joined the Taliban, what does that tell you about the invading forces? That they were not there to restore peace or establish justice. Good people do not attract cowards.
@@1994mrmysteryman majority of Afghans support Taliban and new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan...so you are right about that Sir. You are one of the first few Westerners who realise this! Respect to you!
Ah they were not prepared too fight for invaders u mean?
As if you guys had the balls to fight the Taliban if you didn’t have such a numerical and technological advantage
It's interesting that the "Ghost Soldiers" thing also happened in South Vietnam I think that's just what happens when you bring in literal plane loads of cash to a poor country
Same thing happened during the Chinese Civil War with the American backed Nationalist Army. Seems like Uncle Sam have a problem...
But the Taliban were making billions themselves yet had no problem paying their fighters. They have almost no corruption issues as far as we know.
@@jenkz16 any nation with an economy based on resource extraction has huge corruption problems as starving peasants can work in a mine
@@nulnoh219 Nationalist China was extremely corrupt long before America got involved you can't win warlords over to your side without a bribe
@@RADIZ2013 I am aware of this idea. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Norway are nations that rely heavily on an economy based solely on natural resources (oil) and have no corruption issues. Australia relies heavily on natural resources (minerals) again, no corruption issues. If what you see is true, these nations would not function as they do.
I was in Afghanistam in 2014 and everything mentioned in this video caught my attention when I was there. I knew what we are witnessing right now was gonna happen exactly the way it did, and this quickly. I'm sick of the media bubbles trying to blame politicians here in the US for what happened because clearly the media and people who pretend to be experts have never stepped foot in Afghanistan.
I was there 2008-2010 and I called this back then didn't plan that the moron in office would leave 90billion worth of equipment though let them keep there heroin junkies and chai boys I personally have zero respect for them because they refuse to defend there land.
Afghans are Muslims, they will never trust a Christian army
I am a Hindu Indian. We call afghans as looters....
Your terrorist army was never meant to be in Afghanistan.
@@CtheDead209-zt8tj They did, it's pretty hard to defend your country when the insurgents are better fed, armed and trained then you are. Not everyone gets to call in a A-10 to solve their problems like American soldiers can.
It feels a bit wrong even "liking" this video. History hits different when it's not yet firmly in the past. But thanks for covering the current events.
Don't feel bad. The Afghan government was worse than the Taliban.
@@toasterpastries5811 Worse than being enslaved and beheaded?
@@zeuscaesar4845 those aren't even the worst thing they're doing.
@@toasterpastries5811 cant agree more
@@zeuscaesar4845 ok islamophob 😠
Taliban won because of the corrupt politicians and army commanders. As Afghan I am happy the Afghan army didn't fight for those corrupt politicians..
Why would afghans fight taliban? Taliban are also afghans
@@paiman95able yes they were Afghan. Afghan criminals and terrorists. The vast majority of the war in Afghanistan was fought between Taliban and Afghan military. The US had a pretty minor involvement overall after they killed Osama in 14
The whole country is corrupt
Also has support from the locals
Thank you Hilbert. Consistently excellent video, as always!
Recently spent some time with a childhood friend who's spent the last 20 years serving in the US army, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and asked his opinion on the withdrawal and fall. His response was that the entire thing was (a) inevitable, and (b) terribly handled by the US...but that he had absolutely no idea how he would have effectively done it any differently.
On a side note, my parents were fortunate to have traveled extensively in Afghanistan in the 1970s. They said it was the single most extraordinary country they had ever visited, both in terms of the land and its people. Shortly after they left the Soviets invaded, and we were back to the graveyard of empires routine...
This is the most informative piece of media on the subject I've consumed in literal weeks. Wish the news would report on stuff like this. Excellent video.
They buried their guns, waited until we left, dug out the guns and walked outside.
The Taliban were essentially dead early on in the war. The movement was essentially reborn in the Afghan countryside as a result of ANA/Coalition behavior in the countryside with mass arrests/repression/raids/airstrikes/corruption and killings.
Talibannn are actually building the country and are treating its people fairly and treating women good. News is all lies. I seen it first hand. The only people that don’t like them are the traitors/thieves/killers/drugggiessss, and shady people because they want to continue their corruption but Talibannn won’t allow them to. Everything u hear and see on tv is a lie. Talibannnn have accepted americas and all of natos surrender and said there will be peace after until last non believers are off the soil. Free facts.
Afghanistan defeated america and its 49 allies nato all by the help of God. Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. Learn from history. Afghanistan defeated Alexander the Great, gengis khan, Ottoman Empire, sikhs, Britain on four different occasions, solving union and its 15 allies, America and its 49 Allie’s and the traitors/rats/translators/snitches and many many mannnny other empires/countries all were defeated and humiliated. All those high tech weapons, all those numbers/allies/countries/help , and all that money yet they still lost against 1947 ak47s and 100k freedom fighters/Talibannnn. Good vs evil. God vs devil.
If u do not believe in God this will change your mind. Non Afghans will never truly understand how strong Afghans truly are.
Hey Hilbert.
Thank you a lot for this excellent video. I was hoping you would do one on this topic since you have done ones on other current conflicts before which gave me a very differenciated view on them as well.
Cheers
Thank you very much!
Excellent deep dive into the events of the last 12 months! Thank you for making this.
Ok. Now I understand why they couldn't form a government. Mostly due to tribalism.
Yeah, I think the hope was with twenty years, or one generation of support, there were be some change in the attitude. For whatever reason, that did not happen, not even close. It took Europe a millennium to get past feudalism.
@@catsupchutney It'll take a lot less time nowadays with numerous states, their firms, as well as international NGOs bringing in newer technologies (e.g., weapons, communications, infrastructure, healthcare), though the natives will need to assimilate, which will result in lots and lots of displacement, death, and destruction, unfortunately.
but they did have a government just some jealous cousin thought hed be better off in chrge of the countries
The west needs to learn that we can’t just install nation states in areas they have no reason to be in.
The US needs to stop trying to prop up governments around the world
This is an excellent factual analysis of the situation of how the Afghan Taliban were able to secure their ultimate triumph in the Afghan War. Thank you for putting this together!
So, where is all that money now?
Politicians, the scum of this planet.
I think it is in the gold chairs in the capital building in Kabul
@@Sparticulous nope, imagine how much that has been spent on salaries,equipment and a bunch of shit, thats a lot of money for corporations and bankers and politicians
Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan with 175 million $ in his luggage
The way the situation in Afghanistan unravelled reminded me eerily of the Russian language novel Holiday Mountain (also translated as Festive Mountain) written by Alisa Ganieva and published in 2012. It describes an entirely hypothetical scenario where the Russian federal authorities decide that the Islamist insurgency in Dagestan isn't worth the trouble and suddenly decide to withdraw all troups from the region and build a border wall cutting it off from the rest of the country. Dagestan in 2012 and Afghanistan in 2021 have both striking similarities and vast differences, but the thing that sticks out to me the most is the situation where a tenacious and passionate Islamist movement is ineffectually opposed by an ostensibly modern and secular regime which has nothing to offer its citizens other than rampant corruption, petty squabbles between ruling factions and police brutality.
А как по русски называется?
@@bigbirb340 Праздничная гора
Very interesting. Is there an English translation of that novel? I'm not super familiar with the region but it seems like if Dagestan fell, so would Chechnya.
@@grahamcarpenter5135 Almost whole of Northern Caucasus would fall on that scenario
That is highly unlikely in reality tho
@@DeathsOnTheYAxis well the book is more of an introspection on Dagestani society than a geopolitical thought experiment. Moscow, the Islamic world and the West exist in it more as vague external sources of cultural influence than as sets of political actors with interests of their own. There is a large cast of characters, but nearly all of them are Dagestani.
Additionally, while quitting the Caucasus isn’t seriously considered by any Russian decisionmakers, “stop feeding the Caucasus” is a pretty popular slogan among grassroots Russian nationalists, feeding on base ethnic prejudices and a perception of unfair treatment from the federal government. I’m guessing that the author, as a Dagestani woman who has spent much of her life in Moscow, would be very familiar with such sentiments and would have fantasized about what the logical conclusion of that slogan would actually look like, regardless of its feasibility.
USA: Tell the Taliban off, Afghan National Army, assert yourself!
Afghan National Army: Hey that's my provincial capital!
USA: Great, now let em' have it!
Afghan National Army: You can have it!
afghan army fighted for money just like trump said they had no will to die
We talk as though .....ok...before I go any further....
......is every body in USA a Democrat ??
.....A Republican ??...does everybody vote, even if of Voting Age ??
So how comes we talk about all Afghans as one group??...or , all Iraqis....or all Iranians....etc., etc...
Why don't we mention Children, or women/men, The Infirmed;__ etc., etc. ??
.....when we go on Bombing Operations...???
@@clydeaimes2161 well he did say army not afghan people so...
Jesus thats good
I see we're not gonna give any credit to Pakistan for supporting the Taliban in all this?
At least they're dealing with the blowback, if all else fails.
Pakistan? The ally of America? No thats more blame on the USA tbh
@@alchemist7525 you mean the country that's been at the forefront of holding back the Taliban?
@Amaan Hussain wait, how does spending nearly a trillion usd benefit us? Also, it's kinda hard to stop a trade like that if you have to stabilize the country first
@Amaan Hussain also, I wasn't asking you, I was asking someone else
Hilbert quickly becoming an expert on Afghan modern history!
this is just stupid propaganda of western media and extremely baised...
@@ibnebadr367 How so?
@@ibnebadr367 true
A tour de force. The best brief analysis of events in Afghanistan I have encountered. Bravo!
Hilbert, just out of curiosity, when are you gonna release a video on the Sri Lankan Civil War? Thanks for letting me know.
The comments of that video would be nearly as bad as videos on Northern Ireland
As a Sri Lankan, I would love to see such a video
@@alcabone1126 Why? I'm just curious.
@@tiredox3788 The Sri Lankan government with the aid of India killed thousands of Tamils civilians because the Tamil Tigers were fighting for autonomy/independence.
@@overdose8329 found the Tamil
French army jokes out. Afghanistan army jokes in.
This is definitely one of the best analysis videos on the situation that I've seen. Everyone from multiple administrations to our allies and mainstream media ignored the fact that 80 percent of the Afghan Army is high on opium and hash. Vice news exposed that and the corruption of patrol base commanders multiple times and everyone ignored it. Nobody wants to put in the actual work of building a nation from literally the ground up. We didn't learn our lesson from Vietnam now it's biting us in the rear again.
Rebel inc players: hey I’ve seen this before
Don't let that VICE documentary warp your world view. Yes there is corruption but the real story was more complicated than that documentary presents it to be. Its not true that no one wants to do the nation building. A huge number of people flooded into Afghanistan since 2002, for exactly that purpose. It was interesting how many varied groups came from all over the world to try build a healthy, democratic enlightened nation.
@@alphabet_soup123 Well the thing is Democracy may not be what countries like Afghanistan needs. Implementing a Democratic government into a tribal country might be one of the first mistakes here.
The only time I ever remember Afghanistan actually being unified is when it was a monarchy that all tribes serve under.
@@imlivingunderyourbed7845 we want Shariah Law in Afghanistan without Western interference as Afghanistan is 99.99% Mualim. Taliban are doing a good job at being a centralized government. The problem is the petty US sanctions and the US theft of the Afghan assets, both which is making the humanitarian crisis which started under the US-Ghani regime worse becausethe new Afghan govts hands are tied so they can'tbuild the economy & country back faster. The great thing about the new Afghan government is that they are honest, ethical and work extremely hard...they are leaders who aren't afraid of hard work and not politicians who just talk crap and lie. Another problem is that all sectors were left in a mess under the US-NATO watch and they know this but don't ever speak about it and blame the our new Afghan govt.
It sounds like the coalition was still trying to win the "hearts and minds" of the people there and they figured it wouldn't be helpful to call them out for getting high all the time. If they could have waited until they were off duty it might not have been so bad but everyone needs to be totally focused while on duty in case they run into an ambush.
The tone of hopelessness and permanence of the situation in this video is so depressing. This literally happened a couple weeks ago but it’s being talked about like 2001 is.
This was a great video. I know I can trust this channel since it seems like one of the few that was consistently talking about Afghanistan before it got trending after its downfall
Cuz they live there 😐 walking in someone’s home and wondering why they’re still there when you leave is wild
@A Fels Taliban is Pashtun dominated and Pashtun live on both sides of the border. The border means little to them and Pakistan can't do anything about it. They control a checkpoint now. Major powers could not defeat them and Pakistan suffered with their resistance also. If the world can't beat these tough mountain people then let them rule their land. The largest tribe in Afghanistan also is Pashtun so let them rule.
@@mahmudshiil135 Why are they claiming sovereignty over non-Pashtun areas? It seems like a double-standard to behave in such a way. All of these groups - foreign and domestic - are too power-hungry to even entertain a multi-state solution. It hardly even comes up.
@@fuzzydunlop7928 i don't condone it but it is obvious the largest ethnic group in every country wants to rule and dominate the politics and Pashtun are the largest, they believe in Taliban and they said they will build inclusive government. Let's see how that works out for them. The world can't do anything now.
@A Fels China is in bed with Taliban.
@@Alaryk111 China really hopes they're in bed with the Taliban. The Taliban's only interested so long as they provide money and weapons, same song different verse.
Endurance. Because they live there and we don’t. That’s how.
The South Vietnamese held out for two years against the VC. The Afghan army didn't even come close to that.
@@catsupchutney ah yes because you can definetly compare these two extremely different countries/ situations/conflicts. wheres the point? it wont give you ANY answers
@@pissfather6798 I love the internet.
@@pissfather6798 ask me how I know you're a redditor
How did we win lol I tell you short answer my friend?. See Taliban aren't the Latinos Taliban aren't the blks we don't take a George Floyd and just sing and dance and beg for fairness from white oppressors. Taliban are people who will fight you and disrespect you right back.. You see the flag planting picture just like ww2 how many times have the infidels disrespected the arab men?
Many now you have a taste of that back.. The blks and latinos should take note.. You can not play koi with people who think they are king's on earth because they were born white..
ALLAHU AKBAR🏴🏴
The problem the United States did was not governing Afghanistan directly with a military governor. These problems were known for decades in continuous reports. Putting the most corrupt of the corrupt into positions of power rather intentionally or unintentionally was a waste of time, money, and lives especially when your audits showed that it was apparent. At this point I don't know who is more inept the United States government or the Afghanistan government.
For real, if we want to stay in these countries, then we need to rule them ourselves. Otherwise, go in with a purpose, and then gtfo asap.
Ah, love it when yt commenters discover colonialism.
Seriously, the US are what got them into this situation in the first place, suggesting they directly govern is like putting out fire with flaming torches.
@The Big Kiwi Well that rules out the US
ok but.... then what
Try to transition to a civilian government later? You'd probably run into all the same problems
Just keep the military governor there permanently and make it a colony?
@@jasondaveries9716 if you're crawling, what's the point of me giving you a bicycle if you haven't even mastered walking yet? If you are going to invest in something, you might as well hold the reins into that person is capable to stand on their own.
10:48 Small nitpick, that's an AH-6 Little Bird, not a UH-60 Black Hawk.
it's mental how long these have been in production, lovely to fly apparently.
Because we have Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Khalid ibn al walid never lost a battle out of 100 battles only because of Allah subhanahu w Ta'ala!
A Sharpe reference at 5:23?
Now that’s soldiering!
A interesting follow-up video would be why Afghanistan remained so 'tribal' in the first place and why the attempts at unifying the country failed. Another question I have (but probably goes togheter with the above) is why there was such rampant corruption? Why would the Afghan officials and officers sell away their supplies and keep the loans of the soldiers?
Nation states matter. "Afghanistan" only existed because of its dynasts.
I think it has to do with it being an extremely remote region with many mountains dividing the country which explains why there were so many warlords in Afghanistan
Difficult terrain + close to non-existent infrastructure to link.
in a word, mountains
@@EresirThe1st ironic since you're advocating primitive cave man shit like the taliban lol..
Maybe don’t overthrow the monarchy in the first place…
Blame the Soviets
The monarchy was perfect for Afghanistan.
@@gavinisdie Blame america not the soviets. they already where gone when this happened,. sure they wanted to invade afghanistan first. but when pakistan america and israel created the mujahedeen they knew they couldnt win it. the mujahedeen was literally created to fight against the soviets. so the soviet knew they couldnt win after loosing 15K soldiers. and moved themself out of afghanistan. Then the Mujahedeen took over till 1994 when the Taliban was created. created by america israel and pakistan. to fight against the Mujahedeen which like i said was created by america as well. and from that day on all things went wrong as we know. then in 2001 bush invaded afghanistan under lies. Bush told the world that the taliban knew where osama was hidden. but the taliban didnt know. so he invaded afghanistan anyway. the invasion of afghanistan in 2001 was because of 9/11. which as also a false flag created by america israel and saudi arabia. more then half of the hijackers where from saudi arabia. Al Qeada who was behind it. Also an american/israel created terrorist group was responsible for it. with the help ofc of america saudi arabia and israel. so why didnt america attack israel and saudi arabia? well those are their allies. they literally sponsor and have the lead over the american government/congress. Thats how all of this started. not because of the soviets. if you want to talk about something know facst. not some propganda that the west have been telling you.
@@metalvideos1961Dude you sound like Kim Jong un over here ranting about western propaganda when the monarchy’s destruction had nothing to do with America😂
@@gavinisdie The Monarchy was toppled by the King's cousin Daoud Khan who violently repressed anyone deemed sympathetic to Islamism or Communism, which was what triggered the Communist revolution. The man was an idiot
Many other sources: "The Afghan people just wanted the Taliban" or "The Afghan military are just cowards."
H.W.H. : "There are a lot of interconnecred factors and many different independent factors that lead to this".
the regular Afghan army is full of bloody idiots though. No one is denying that
It’s very different to view anything there when you know someone who is actually trapped in Kabul. It has been a complete nightmare We wait for news everyday that they have found a way out. Thank you for posting this analysis of the situation.
Hope they're safe 🙏
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 thank you 🙏🏽 They aren’t taking any great risks at the moment. They’re waiting for the borders to open. It’s just such a heartbreaking and scary situation.
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 They finally made it back to the US. It’s a long and crazy story. One of the most frustrating parts is that the US government did zero to help them return. This is after countless emails and calls to all of our reps, different agencies etc.
@@Lemoncatsf That sounds like an absolute nightmare but I'm very glad they're safe and sound
They must be very brave to go through all that
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 Very brave and wily. Our friend used his smarts and some type of lucky grace to get out 🙏🏽
From a bad decision, to a worse decision, ending with the worst outcome.
Inevitable outcome
The corruption of the Afghan government and military command made it too unstable to fight the Taliban, to put it short. What I think the US could’ve done instead of leaving entirely was switching to unconventional warfare tactics.
thats exactly what has been happening for nearly the entire war. Special forces units were almost always used successful against the taliban. But this caused them to be overused and strained.
USA cannot fight unconventional war and win. The USA is not good at that. Look at Vietnam
Interesting how the author describes the taliban as a "militia" but proceeds to confirm its total numbers are 70 000, that's 20,000 more than the Canadian armed forces 10000 more than Singapore armed forces
lmao numbers=quality???
@@alfijibril611 Enough to beat NATO and NATO trained soldiers.
@@masoodjalal1152 you're right
@@alfijibril611 well we can say that the taliban are seasoned soldiers after decades of war
@@alfijibril611 than why do you think Germany lost against the soviet union?
Best Analysis I have seen so far, about what really happened in Afghanistan in the past few years!!!
This was a great video. We want to make some content about the politics of the short-lived "Republic of Afghanistan." This primer was amazing.
Thank you! Let me know when the podcast is up!
Excellent video, you did exceptional research. A well presented and objective video.
They won by not losing and not quitting.
"Survival tip #1: Do not die"
Dangerous move discussing this topic considering UA-cam doesn’t like politics on their platform. Props to you.
This is the video the world needs to see to understand the Afghanistan Fiasko! Well made video and glad to have found your channel :)
They lost because they didn't have a reason to fight. Fighting for the US puppet government in Kabul was a lost cause.
This was MUCH more informative than any news outlet out there (that I have access to). Great work!
Been following you through RSS, but now... *subcribe*
Air Force technicians when they get a call from the Afghan National army about how to fix their vehicles: 🔇
Generally a good analysis, though I feel you missed a few essential points, particularly the mistakes of the U.S. made with the occupation, namely:
-The ANA was taught the american way of fighting, with air superiority and everything. This was simply unsustainable without american support. The ANA was never set up for functioning without U.S. support.
-American operations in Afghanistan, particularly drone warfare and similar tactics, frequently caused severe collateral damage, fueling anti-american sentiment, which in turn gave the taliban a popularity boost as the anti-american group. Beyond the initial driving out of the Taliban, U.S. operations in Afghanistan have for years been essentially counterproductive.
-On top of being made up of questionable figures, the Afghan government set up by the U.S. was fundamentally a puppet show, which certainly did not help with inspiring confidence or pride in locals.
ANA still had more weapons and military planes and equipment than Taliban, so stop making excuses for them. Many ANA soldiers realised that there was no reason to fight their own anymore, so didn't fight and were sent home by Taliban.
ANA was attacked in many areas when civilians heard that Taliban were on there way. In Khost, civilians mobilized to fight the KPF, the US trained special unit rabid dogs & ANA, alongside the Taliban. You had to see the heros welcomes Taliban got as they rolled through the country in those few days...I guess your media forgot to show u that.
Basically, you forgot the most important part...majority of Afghans support Taliban and now the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan government and wanted the foreign occupiers out and that the US had no right to illegally invade Afghanistan.
Even atheists were supporting the Taliban, which surprized me too as i thought that they would support the foreign occupiers but an American on Twitter said that his atheist friends were supporting Taliban to get rid of the foreign invaders. August 15th 2021 was the happiest day for majority of Afghans, except those traitors and puppets who lost their power, privilege and paychecks.. Then we watched NATO run away chaotically, which was great, except when many of our ppl were shot by the unprofessional US soldiers firing indiscriminately after the ISKP attack and many Talibs getting killed in the iskp attack too at the Kabul Airport and then the US drone strike Killing 10 Afghans.
Only the Afghans who benefited from the foreign occupiers were happy with the foreign occupier terrorists staying forever, no one else.
Taliban are Afghans, our own people, not foreign invader oppressors. Taliban fought for 20yrs to free us from the foreign occupier terrorists and their evil puppets. The US should've never been destroying and interfering in other countries, stayed on their own soil and protected their own country instead of apparently allowing 2 planes to be stolen and crashed into buildings but instead they are destroying all our countries and acting as of they are doing something good & are our saviours. We never wanted your democracy. Who wants to be like woke democratic America when we have our own religion, culture and values! Your democracy in itself is a joke...the West is falling apart. Till today, the US can't let go of Afghanistan and is still sanctioning and stealing the Afghan assets and interfering and spying on Afghanistan...move on already, 20yrs was too much, face the loss especially after Taliban were willing to apprehend and try or send OBL to The Hague/3rd country where he would get a fair trial once the US provided proof that OBL was guilty of 9/11 but the US choose to illegally invade and wage a 20yr war causing lose, destruction and sending our ppl to Guatanamo Bay and using enhanced torture techniques there and at Bagram etc.
This question has already been answered by Vice 8 years ago through a documentary 8 years ago title "What Winning looks like" .
That was a good documentary
This video is really well made. No sources but I know you have done your research very well, it is just excellent. Thank you for educating us.
After watching "this is what winning looks like " I was astounded at the lack of logic and moral character of some of these people, it was sad to watch... this was an awesome video, finding non biased journalism is so rare today
Heroin addicted, illiterate, no discipline and no morale / patriotism soldiers led by corrupt and child f*cking commanders.
@@adude8424 exactly! Trump would have been better for the job,, but biden was right on this 1, this was always gonna happen
Thats why I say I didn't fight for them I fought for the man to my right and left because after the first 3 months in afganistan I realized we were helping child fucking junkies I feel bad for the women and children thats it most of the men are of fighting age and rather shoot dope and wait for the taliban to take back over....
@Syphax Atlas you think us soldiers get paid well lol... a private makes 20k a year that's less than a fucking McDonald's worker... shouldn't speak on shit you don't know they paid the ANA more per month than we got and we did all the fighting while they fired there guns at nothing just to make noise....
@Syphax Atlas American soldiers don't routinely r-pe kids
Hey Hilbert do a video about the Liberian cival wars
This was completely a forgone conclusion, many of us saw this coming a decade ago.
This was a really well researched, informing and entertaining video.
It's crazy how in someplace corruption is just seen as a perk of high authority. At some point you have to ask yourself how many rounds fired into your own foot is enough
I think places with high corruption enable that corruption when folks don't see it as corruption.
It made me question what things I see as natural that are really just corruption.
2:00 Fun Fact: The US did something similar to this with South Vietnam.
Being forced to signing a treaty that did not benefit the Southern Government such as having Northern troops stay in the South (NVA were in the middle of their Easter Offensive). If they did not sign the US would cut funding which it did eventually anyways. Paris Peace Accords allowed the US to withdraw and get their POWs while both North and South were supposed to re-unify eventually without annexation.
"Being forced to signing a treaty that did not benefit the Southern Government such as having Northern troops stay in the South"
LOL.
And what credibility did South Vietnam have exactly? South Vietnam formed because they didn't want to lose elections which they would so they said screw democracy and created their own pseudo-state.
The US logistical and material support remained a lot longer in South Vietnam, and the ARVN managed to hold out for a while on that.
Awesome vid, been waiting for some channel to do a video like this since it happened, you've done a great job !
I don’t see any other comments talking about how he might have said African national army in the one soldiers quote
I also found that odd...
When you play Hearts of Iron with console commands
Afghan president: My country is under attack and my people need me!
Afghan president: 🏃🏽♂️💨
The geography definitely is a big reason why the Taliban was successful. It allowed them to operate in secrecy and gave them protection when it came to attacks.
Modern guerilla wars are extremely hard to win given they'll simply hide until the larger forces get bored and exhausted from war. The only real way to win is through sheer brutality, but that would look really bad for a modern democracy.
It depends what you call for "win". If the US had left right after murdering OBL they could have just call it a day. But they choose to build a "democratic state" for honestly no good reason. I mean i guess publicity is important, but still a very dumb thing altogether....
Best way would be to flatten all the mountains and the mass oppression of tribes who support them, mainly pashtun tribes.
@@ShinigamiInuyasha777 "No good reason" is that they wanted stability--a pro-American democratic Middle Eastern country would've been a bonus (pipe dream or not, it would've been a bonus) but at the very least, one less potentially volatile chunk of land right in the middle of Eurasia. Walk in, shoot, and leave doesn't end the conflict; just changes the target to the next warlord in charge. Turns out they couldn't end the conflict anyway.
Did they soviet Union not try to depopulate the area in their war? This is what caused women and children to go to neighbouring countries. These children would find refuge in extremists schools and form the Taliban.
@@ShinigamiInuyasha777 their objective was to remove the taliban from power. by this definition they lost
Simply no Afghan wanted to fight the taliban, they all hated the interventionists and they felt better under one flag
Interventionists
May I remind you Afghanistan ATTACKED US FIRST, not the other way around
@Illumirage Afghanistan ? More like al qaeda, an international terrorist organisation that has An afghan branch, why didn't they attack all the other branches then?
@@Illumirage
Actually no. The Taliban agreed to hand over Bin Laden, who was not a member of the Taliban, if the USA showed the Taliban evidence, but for some unknown reason, the United States decided to invade instead of just letting the Taliban view the evidence and hand over Bin Laden.
I came across an article that points out due to the sino Soviet split, china sent supplies and military advisers to the mujahedeen during the soviet invasion. Wonder how much they got involved.
China had no involvement in afganistan we would have found out if they did amd sanctioned the shit out of them or worse. China's hands are clean as far as the war on terror in afganistan...
Thank you for making this.
I don't get this. A news paper a few months ago would say," Afghan Security Forces could hold out for six months."
My first thought as a US citizen: "What happens in six months and one day?"
Seeing the writing on the wall. I would have done the same. Afghanistan was a failed State the second we left.
They over funded the country not a state the world is not America they made the Afghans rely on us soldiers n their support
@@AAquese Man, I watched this a week ago? The 2020s have been a hell of a decade.
Within the week I watched someone who knows what the hell is going on. There was no easy way we were going to get out of there.
That being said I think there are things we could have done a lot differently. Especially if we're going to stay 20 years.
We should have made getting our people out a priority. Which we never do? WTF is wrong with us?
Afghanistan was a failed state when the USA bombed it into one 20 years ago !!!!
If the USA and russia and the UK left it alone it would have been fine !!!
@@dantheman3022 well that is the thing.
We only went in when Russia did to give them their Vietnam.
Which... Lead to the Taliban finally giving stability to the area. Which eventually lead to the US going back in.
I think be big mis step of the US. Was not getting out immediately after the Taliban was routed out.
Or... If the US was going to stay in for 20 years it could have tried to look at historically worked for the region. Then built a State that looked more like that.
Instead of making a Western Style D democracy. Let a coalition of regional warlords run the country and maybe those regions could have a lower case d democracy.
what an excellent and informative video. well done, sir.
Really interesting video great editing also 💯 good job
I like very much this video and your analysis! Thank you!
Thanks for informing on this subject!
This whole thing has been incredibly frustrating to follow... this war had had family and friends part of it since I was just a child... and to see it fall back Into their hands so easily just hurts...
I am sorry for your loss. You should be questioning the real reasons for these wars which is that wars are needed to justify military spending and keep military industrial complex running. No one should die to make these rich pigs more money
@@Adam.Angaar you gotta give your army and equipment experience.. if your military isn’t up to par, someone else’s will be.
@@matthewh7437 what a bullshit excuse to kill innocent people. And i sat innocent because all this started because we didnt want Afganistan to be a socialist nation with health care, equality, and free education but this is what we got instead
@@Adam.Angaar questioning doesn't equate to an actual real life change. Neither does youtube raging. Get active in your community.
"Their hands" is exactly where the majority of Afghans want Afghanistan to be. Your family and friends should not have been in my country. Their filthy feet should not have touched Afghan soil! Majority of Afghans support Taliban and IEA government and are happy that they've regained power...the US were foreign invaders in our country and we lost millions of lives to US hands, our ppl were tortured and sent to Bagram and Guatanamo Bay, raped and other atrocities commited by the US army. Thanks to our Taliban heros, our sons of the soil, we got our freedom from the US & NATO oppressors back and they were sent running.
This is the consequences of deposing the Afghan king and replacing it
You were not paying attention.
One of my distinct czn was in the taliban, when in 2001, they(taliban) were removed from power, they surrendered to abdur rashid dostuom for safe passage, but instead, the warloard buried alive the injured one's, and my distinct czn with other 200 Taliban's were locked in a container, and that container was kept in the heat, because of that only 12 of them survived, after that, they were handed to American's, they stripped them of their clothes and marched them naked
USA is the biggest terrorist threat in the world. Don't agree with their ideas or don't align with them? They will constantly try to destroy your country first through economic means and covert operations including fueling propaganda against you, and eventually it turns into an invasion and occupation. Please USA, get out of other countries
The other things were horrible but marching naked doesn't seem THAT bad if it was really as got as you're saying (as long as they got a towel or underwear or something) 😂
Lolz
@@srbtlevse16 well, if you're marched naked by enemies in front of your people, you will feel dishonored, and to afghans, honor is everything
@@wantedai6689 ignore them, they didn't lose anyone like we did in Dasht-e Leili. Dostum the rabid dog should not get general amnesty...he should be h u n g.
Before the 2000, Afghanistan was a clash of 3 ideology : westernization, communism, islamist. What changed the capital of Afghanistan from a medieval mindset and technology was the initial westernization. Then because of politics during the cold war the communism faction took power and with an incredibly bad series of decision, turn the country into total chaos. The only faction left was the islamist who took upon themselves to clear the mess made by the communist regime with the financial backing of USA and some islamist countries. After the islamist won they impose strict religious laws and fanatism, making a perfect recipe for Al-Quaeda and other fanatical group to emerge
that is the most inaccurate summary of Afghanistan history ever. the initial "Westernization" you are talking about was done with help from USSR under Daoud Khan who himself came into power with help of the PDPA (which btw despite being influenced by Marxist Leninism wasn't communist). Daoud started acting tyrannical and sidelined PDPA, and when one of the prominent member of PDPA was murdered( Daoud's government was one of the major suspect) PDPA organized major protest. Daoud arrested almost all the major members of PDPA which sparked the Saur revolution when PDPA came into power. Also, PDPA didn't create mess, other than the partial failing of their land distribution program not much bad decision were made. PDPA started modernizing the country even more by giving women more representation, giving them opportunities for education, abolition of dowry, etc. this pissed off the conservatives who started terrorist activities against the government. the government asked USSR for help. US wanted USSR to have their own "Vietnam", so they started funding the terrorists and totally destabilized the country, US continued funding terrorists even after USSR left.
@@ShantanuShinde1 True, the westernization only came when NATO invaded and established a democratic government.
This is a very knowledgeable video! I’ve learned so much and now understand. It’s nice to learn what’s actually happening rather than each political side blame the other. Thank you for the amazing video
36 minutes is pretty long when the answer is God willed it!
What a great channel! Glad I subscribed a while ago. Very informative
In my opinion they won because the Taliban were the good guys in Rambo 3.
Now I shall see myself out.
Not quite, the Soviet-Mujahideen war lasted from 1979-1989 and the Taliban appeared in 1994. More likely that Rambo's Mujahideen buddies spent the early 1990s killing each other for control of the country and the Taliban mopped them up.
@@grahamcarpenter5135 Not true im fdom afghanistan
most the original mujahideen joined the taliban. in fact taliban itself formed as a faction of the mujahideen
@@grahamcarpenter5135 Now Rambo will have fight his old Mujihadeen buddies with the help of his new friends, ISIS-K.
A puppet government not surviving without it's master? Colour me shocked.
Thank you for explaining what really happened beacause alot of people think Afghans are just coward and that's why they didn't fight against Taliban.
Well both the taliban and the republic are afghan
They didn't win anything, it was given to them
this is the answer 100%
Still a win, keeping pressure high enough for long enough so you don't have to win a full-on war. Pretty smart if you ask me. Not trying to defend them though, but if you look at it objectively, it's pretty smart.
They fought the Soviet Union and then NATO. Took them 42 years.
good for them
Are you talking about biden or trump because I know biden was the one who ended the war but I feel you where blaming trump because everyone else is also calling trump Russia's puppet.
Taliban is rad. They fought their occupiers and won. Continuing Afghan tradition
Exhaustively researched video & super useful! Thanks for putting in so much work on it!
Loved the way the things are explained and highlighted. Great work
Thank you
Big problem were the Afghan security forces. Those that weren’t secretly Taliban were getting high as kites on combat patrols. Unreliable.
finally video which explains everything clearly.
thank you
Sums up my analysis as well. The individual Afghans wanted to fight, but the leaders were corrupt. The Americans just didn't want to deal with the corruption in Afghan leadership and just gave up, and the ordinary Afghans have to pay that price.
correction: the foreign language that was spoken was urdu(official language of Pakistan) not a central asian language
What happen with the Afghan army? You can give a child the most advanced weaponry in the world, but at the end of the day, it’s still a child.
There's moments in here where Hilbert's voice gets an angry undertone. I've never noticed it in any of his videos before
Hilbert a video about the life of Mohammad Zahir Shah the last king of Afghanistan would be intristing
I worked in college for a gentleman who was a provincial governor under the king and even hosted him at his house for dinner. Most people don’t realize that Afghanistan was relatively stable up until the early 1970s.
A video on the life and times of Ahmad Shah Massoud would be interesting
The taliban won the same way, communists won in Vietnam. During Vietnam war u.s had to pull back due to heavy protests at home to bring back troops. While in Afghanistan, the u.s had to pull back due to the corruption of ashraf ghani, who had been filling his pockets instead of doing something for afghanistan, ghost soldiers enlistment whose salaries were taken by other soldiers, traitors and deserters within the afghan army and cowards that refuse to fight the taliban and instead choose to cling to aeroplanes and escape. The u.s realised that afghanistan, can not be uplifted like south korea and Japan, thus they left afghanistan and the taliban takeover
i cant imagine 1 left wing take thats remotely useful beyond starving an entire population
Very informative! Awesome job man
i genuinely cant see how anyone, from the Afghani perspective, can think the old government was better
We don't live there so we'll probably never know.
@@carboy101 if you ask ordinary people, they despised corruption and "wall street" of Afghanistan built on American securlar capitalistic motivation which lead to corruption and enrichment of 1%, while Taliban actually burnt all poppy fields prior and enacted strict Sharia Law against stealing. It's complicated....
they dont like atheists, feminist's, gays, banksters, and son on...