Those who left and those who could not flee speak of a country in ruins and decry the world’s apathy towards the humanitarian crisis and the lack of rights, mainly for women, which a UN report describes as ‘gender apartheid’
Unfortunately, ordinary people did rise up and risk their lives, against the US and NATO. It wasn’t just that their military failed them, this wasn’t some battlefield loss, or a powerful regime keeping an iron hold on the populace, the military and the people just decided to side with the Taliban, it’s what they voted for in the most primal and basic election that exists.
That doesn’t mean that I’m not sympathetic to the plight of a lot of people that are suffering, there are a lot of people in westernized cities that have lost their freedom and their way of life because of what the rest of their country chose, but that also doesn’t mean that it’s right to cause even more blood and death to override that choice, just because we identify with the oppressed more than the Taliban. That type of mentality is exactly what made the US and NATO so hated in the region, and frankly, I have no reason to think that if we did it again it wouldn’t end with exactly the same result
I don’t think that’s at all safe to say. Do you know how many American Women resisted the right to vote, thinking that politics would be “dirty” for them to get into? Womens suffrage didn’t move forward in a meaningful way until American culture, women included, moved past those ideas. Internalized oppression is a very real thing, and cultures are often enforced by everybody that’s a part of them. You can say that living under the taliban is far worse for women, I’m not arguing that, but people and cultures don’t always evaluate their options so rationally. Plenty of mothers enforce the culture’s oppressive rules on their daughters because it’s what they believe is right, and it’s what they were raised in. Also, plenty of women have just as much reason to hate the US as the men, they’ve lost family and friends to drone bombings and war. It’s totally fair for you to think women would be insane to support the taliban, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.
Again, no group is a monolith. There are obviously lots of women who are terrified to lose their freedom, their options for education, and their way of life, but I don’t think we can assume that that is all, or even a majority, of women just because that’s what we think they should want.
Unfortunately, ordinary people did rise up and risk their lives, against the US and NATO. It wasn’t just that their military failed them, this wasn’t some battlefield loss, or a powerful regime keeping an iron hold on the populace, the military and the people just decided to side with the Taliban, it’s what they voted for in the most primal and basic election that exists.
That doesn’t mean that I’m not sympathetic to the plight of a lot of people that are suffering, there are a lot of people in westernized cities that have lost their freedom and their way of life because of what the rest of their country chose, but that also doesn’t mean that it’s right to cause even more blood and death to override that choice, just because we identify with the oppressed more than the Taliban. That type of mentality is exactly what made the US and NATO so hated in the region, and frankly, I have no reason to think that if we did it again it wouldn’t end with exactly the same result
You say people, but what you mean is men.
and women
No, I think it’s safe to say a lot of the women views Taliban control with dread.
I don’t think that’s at all safe to say. Do you know how many American Women resisted the right to vote, thinking that politics would be “dirty” for them to get into? Womens suffrage didn’t move forward in a meaningful way until American culture, women included, moved past those ideas. Internalized oppression is a very real thing, and cultures are often enforced by everybody that’s a part of them. You can say that living under the taliban is far worse for women, I’m not arguing that, but people and cultures don’t always evaluate their options so rationally. Plenty of mothers enforce the culture’s oppressive rules on their daughters because it’s what they believe is right, and it’s what they were raised in. Also, plenty of women have just as much reason to hate the US as the men, they’ve lost family and friends to drone bombings and war. It’s totally fair for you to think women would be insane to support the taliban, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.
Again, no group is a monolith. There are obviously lots of women who are terrified to lose their freedom, their options for education, and their way of life, but I don’t think we can assume that that is all, or even a majority, of women just because that’s what we think they should want.