The barbarism of the Taliban is occasionally disguised but never very effectively and never for long. The latest example of them showing their true colors is the horrifying assault on Malala Yousafzai, a precocious 14-year-old-girl from the Swat Valley of Pakistan, who has emerged as an outspoken champion of girls’ education–which is anathema to this violent fundamentalist movement. Taliban gunmen answered her temerity with a bullet to the head, leaving her in critical condition. What makes this heinous act even more shocking is that the Taliban took no effort to hide their involvement. As the New York Times reports:
A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed by phone Tuesday that Ms. Yousafzai had been the target, calling her crusade for education rights an “obscenity.”
“She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” Mr. Ehsan said, adding that if she survived, the militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.”
So in the eyes of the Taliban, advocating for women’s education is a capital crime.
As it happens this attack was carried out by the Pakistani Taliban (a.k.a. the Tehrik-i-Taliban). But they are animated by the same ideology as their Afghan counterparts, which are fighting U.S., Afghan, and other foreign troops. While organizational structures may differ slightly, the Pashtun extremists operating on both sides of the artificial Durand Line separating Pakistan from Afghanistan are otherwise very similar, and a victory for one translates into greater gains for the other. Therefore, it is imperative that the Western powers that made a commitment to fight the Taliban in 2001 show sustained commitment and hold off on further troop withdrawals until Afghan security forces are strong enough to take on the Taliban with decreasing levels of outside assistance.
Otherwise, these savages are likely to shoot their way back into power, with unspeakable consequences for girls like Malala Yousafzai who aspire to something more noble than chattel slavery.
But Max, this very story makes the other side of the argument. What is the United States to do about a movement that has root in the tribal lands that exactly so cross over state lines and political structures that are "artificial"? Are to we oversee Afghanistan *and* Pakistan, invest energy in fundamentally reordering their cultures and societies? Have we ever done this in our history with any success absent the partial or near complete destruction of indigenous civil societies before the rebuilding began? The Taliban don't exactly get defeated, once and for all, after their command and control structures are dismantled. They regroup, go to ground–our best response may be holding actions, containment, and military retaliation (targeted or massive) for deterrence, aimed, tragically, not at liberating the women of Afghanistan but of deterring an attack on the American homeland. Obama's lying happy talk and desperate search for a fig-leaf truce with "moderate Talibans" is reprehensible, but the Bush campaign was not originally intended to kick-off an indefinite period of American regnum. You are extrapolating a prolonged end game not originally considered.
I cannot agree more. The Taliban is going back to power as we leave and nothing can stop them. As you mention, they are embedded into the religion and cultural landscape of Afghanistan.
ty. there are no easy answers.The Bush administration did not have plans for long-term nation building in either Afghanistan or Iraq; a rebuilt Afghanistan wasn't on the radar and a transition from Hussein to a successor Western-friendly government was for whatever reason thought to be the inevitable result of the defeat of Hussein's army and party. Is it necessary for American treasure and boots on the ground to follow the Taliban and Al Qaeda's geographical stretch into Asia and the Islamic periphery of Africa in order to protect the homeland and the homeland's requirement for resources? If so, prepare for the indefinite long haul and make sure your treaties with the natives are coercively one-sided.
I still stick to my point. British had all time in the world and Russia had 10 years to build the nation in Afghanistan. I don’t think it worked out. We can chaise terrorists by means of special forces but not by regular army. We are at the point that too many nations need to be build and we simply don’t have money and American’s lives are too precious to put them on that line even if they volunteered. n n
Overall strategic considerations aside, this particular Taliban action merits a massive, even wildly disproportionate, response.We should respond to the attack on this little girl with unprecedented ferocity,
What a great idea, David! Then they can respond with equally unprecedented ferocity and so on, and on, and on, and….
That the Taliban would not disguise themselves is not surprising. n nThat the American liberal media and State Department would go along with this line that there are "two Talibans" etc. reminds me of the time when Yuri Andropov was touted as some kind of "progressive" new leader of the USSR because "he liked to listen to jazz." Doesn't that say it all about a liberal media that touts itself as "the first draft of history"?
Swat was a princely state in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa until it was dissolved in 1969, and the original Durand Line had little impact on Swat at the time. n nAs horrific as it is that the Pakistani Taliban turned Swat from possibly the best bit of Pakistan to a war zone since 2001, as horrific as this attack on Ms. Yousafzai is, when will Max Boot ever realize that the USA can not socially re-engineer the world? n nBush43 had eight years to influence textbooks that the Saudis supply everywhere in the Sunni world. THAT was truly a lost opportunity to lead by example. Funny how Obama has been just as passive.
In light of the savagery committed against this little girl, one would have expected the famed but always invisible legions of "moderate Muslims" of the "peace and love" religion to scream to Mohammed their disapproval. Instead the usual silence – and silence should be taken for assent. All in all this latest anecdote is just more fodder for Pamela Geller's subway advertisements labeling the Muslim enemies of Israel and the West savages.
besht2003 says:tOctober 11, 2012 at 2:59 amtr nr nBush along with many others was misled by the multiculti BS that has twisted the minds of most Westerners into thinking that different cultures have similar standards of behaviour.r nThat is the result of not educating people sufficiently because of the ideology of the ruling academic mindshapers and making it a crime to point out the differences in cultures; unless of course it is to reinforce the stereotypes applied to Jews.r nBush of course was also influenced by those lawyer types more interested in the reactions of the “useful idiots” than the strategic interests of the US and the usual collection of lobbyists for the Realpolitik world..