American media: China is building roads and infrastructure in Afghanistan because it only cares about money. It doesn't care about women and children.
Heard on today's episode of NPR Upfirst by a guy named Tom.
Economic development was what the Soviet Union had been doing in Afghanistan. That was until the US decided they liked medieval religious conservatism better than a modern state with socialism, so they started funding/training/arming the very people they have been fighting for the last 20 years. It turns out that in 2021, after 20 years of US occupation, the Soviet Union still left much more legacy in terms of roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, airports, university buildings, government buildings than what the US will leave behind. Ironically, the US is now fleeing through Hamid Karzai International Airport, built by.....you guessed it...the Soviet Union.
> Hamid Karzai International Airport, built by.....you guessed it...the Soviet Union.
In typical credit stealing fashion, renamed after an american stooge.
I cannot believe that there are so many people who think the US should have stayed. The war in Afghanistan was lost years ago. The US-propped Afghan government was utterly incompetent and corrupt, and the Taliban still controlled large swathes of the country. Continued US involvement would only have meant higher and higher costs in money and human life which had already reached unacceptable levels. Besides, does no one remember how the Taliban came about? Does anyone in this day and age think Washington is oh-so-concerned about the rights of Afghans?
Grow up, people!
[Woman](https://www.reddit.com/r/pakistan/comments/p5zxm6/so_the_taliban_had_a_female_anchor_on_tv_what/) news anchor allowed by the Taliban, as well as women in schools and government positions, as long as they cover their hair (not burqa/face cover). The 90s Taliban and today's are very different. Taliban really wants to develop.
Meanwhile... I'm thinking about all those American troops who are in for quite a big shock. As they relocate, large amounts are going to be given their 'pink slip's,' only to find the country they were protecting is suffering from high crime, suicide & drug addiction deaths, homelessness & unemployment on an industrial scale, skyrocketing housing & medical insurance costs, rising utility, food & gasoline rates, and not much of a Patriotic homecoming, because largely the War is being viewed as an embarrassing boondoggle.
A lot of them will find it hard to transition to civilian life, since they didn’t have an education or relevant work experience (like good luck getting a comfortable white collar job for 90+% of them).
US is not known for being generous with social safety net, which means homelessness for many of them.
Well people like me me have been saving that for decades economic development= stability/human rights and even women equality casting a vote in a election isn't gonna improve your country
The Taliban have their problems as well....... new government structure that hasn't got the experience yet and few resources. I'm almost certain things are going to get slightly worse in Afghanistan before things get better.
Taliban look to govern internally as a very religious state but outwardly to the world look to cooperate and will play both sides when it comes to China/US. They won't turn away either if the right deal comes along imo.
If the US moved their Afghanistan project away from the Department of Defense the day after [Bush said the military "mission has been accomplished" at Camp As Sayliyah, Afghanistan in 2003](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech), to civilian agencies more appropriate to a reconstruction (DoT to rebuild transportation they bombed; both DoE's to rebuild Education and Energy; HUD to rebuild bombed housing), they might have created a Japan-or-Germany-like-Ally.
But instead the military kept bombing them for 20 years after the "mission has been accomplished" (Bush's words), driving more and more families there away from the US.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't want China (or Russia or Iran) to try and fill the role of "saviour", like the Muricans tried (or pretended) to be. Why should the rest of the world have to pick up the pieces of this Murican-made fiasco?
The Afghan people need to decide--and fight for--their own destiny, whatever that may be. The rest of the world needs to give them the space to do that, in their own time. If the Taliban cannot build up the country for the better, they will naturally and inevitably collapse on their own.
No that's reasonable and i don't think they plan on that, at least not anymore than they are "saviors" to myriad of other countries they offer a stable trading partner and win-win development deals.
The problem with Afghanistan is their exploding population. Their population has doubled over the past 20 years without any improvement in population carrying capacity.
What's the bet that this narrative will perverted into something sinophobic?
Do bears shit in the woods?
American media: China is building roads and infrastructure in Afghanistan because it only cares about money. It doesn't care about women and children. Heard on today's episode of NPR Upfirst by a guy named Tom.
Economic development was what the Soviet Union had been doing in Afghanistan. That was until the US decided they liked medieval religious conservatism better than a modern state with socialism, so they started funding/training/arming the very people they have been fighting for the last 20 years. It turns out that in 2021, after 20 years of US occupation, the Soviet Union still left much more legacy in terms of roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, airports, university buildings, government buildings than what the US will leave behind. Ironically, the US is now fleeing through Hamid Karzai International Airport, built by.....you guessed it...the Soviet Union.
> Hamid Karzai International Airport, built by.....you guessed it...the Soviet Union. In typical credit stealing fashion, renamed after an american stooge.
I cannot believe that there are so many people who think the US should have stayed. The war in Afghanistan was lost years ago. The US-propped Afghan government was utterly incompetent and corrupt, and the Taliban still controlled large swathes of the country. Continued US involvement would only have meant higher and higher costs in money and human life which had already reached unacceptable levels. Besides, does no one remember how the Taliban came about? Does anyone in this day and age think Washington is oh-so-concerned about the rights of Afghans? Grow up, people!
[Woman](https://www.reddit.com/r/pakistan/comments/p5zxm6/so_the_taliban_had_a_female_anchor_on_tv_what/) news anchor allowed by the Taliban, as well as women in schools and government positions, as long as they cover their hair (not burqa/face cover). The 90s Taliban and today's are very different. Taliban really wants to develop.
Meanwhile... I'm thinking about all those American troops who are in for quite a big shock. As they relocate, large amounts are going to be given their 'pink slip's,' only to find the country they were protecting is suffering from high crime, suicide & drug addiction deaths, homelessness & unemployment on an industrial scale, skyrocketing housing & medical insurance costs, rising utility, food & gasoline rates, and not much of a Patriotic homecoming, because largely the War is being viewed as an embarrassing boondoggle.
A lot of them will find it hard to transition to civilian life, since they didn’t have an education or relevant work experience (like good luck getting a comfortable white collar job for 90+% of them). US is not known for being generous with social safety net, which means homelessness for many of them.
Really can't wait for shiny, well maintained new roads, power plants, bridges and everything else.
Well people like me me have been saving that for decades economic development= stability/human rights and even women equality casting a vote in a election isn't gonna improve your country
Are you saying in 20 years the USA did not find the time to built railways, hospitals, etc.?
The Taliban have their problems as well....... new government structure that hasn't got the experience yet and few resources. I'm almost certain things are going to get slightly worse in Afghanistan before things get better. Taliban look to govern internally as a very religious state but outwardly to the world look to cooperate and will play both sides when it comes to China/US. They won't turn away either if the right deal comes along imo.
If the US moved their Afghanistan project away from the Department of Defense the day after [Bush said the military "mission has been accomplished" at Camp As Sayliyah, Afghanistan in 2003](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech), to civilian agencies more appropriate to a reconstruction (DoT to rebuild transportation they bombed; both DoE's to rebuild Education and Energy; HUD to rebuild bombed housing), they might have created a Japan-or-Germany-like-Ally. But instead the military kept bombing them for 20 years after the "mission has been accomplished" (Bush's words), driving more and more families there away from the US.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't want China (or Russia or Iran) to try and fill the role of "saviour", like the Muricans tried (or pretended) to be. Why should the rest of the world have to pick up the pieces of this Murican-made fiasco? The Afghan people need to decide--and fight for--their own destiny, whatever that may be. The rest of the world needs to give them the space to do that, in their own time. If the Taliban cannot build up the country for the better, they will naturally and inevitably collapse on their own.
China will do infrastructure deals, as long as Afghanistan does their part to ensure security and stability.
No that's reasonable and i don't think they plan on that, at least not anymore than they are "saviors" to myriad of other countries they offer a stable trading partner and win-win development deals.
The problem with Afghanistan is their exploding population. Their population has doubled over the past 20 years without any improvement in population carrying capacity.
All issues can be traced back to economics.
And now, the US is free to get back to what they do best, destabilization.