> They were advised and subsidized by Pakistani intelligence, and their
> hard core grew up in refugee camps in Pakistan - a kind of
> foreignness in itself, even if they were ethnically Pashtun. And they
> grew up with almost no contact with women, which is another kind of
> foreignness. Besides, Pasthtuns are only what, like 40% of the Afghan
> population? And they forced women into burkas at gunpoint. So there's
> not much that organic about them that I can see.
Afghanistan today is a totally unrecognizable country compared with the way it was in 1973. There's been total upheaval. So in that sense, everything is foreign.
But when the Taliban arose, Afghans - whether they loved or hated them - saw them as an indiginous movement. Look, even Hamid Karzai - the head of the traditional ruling Pashtun tribe, as organic an Afghan leader as you can imagine - actively supported the Taliban with money and advocacy in 1994. He openly admits it today.
And for good or ill, every government in Afghan history except Rabbani's has been Pashtun-led, despite the fact that they're a plurality, not a majority.
If the Taliban are foreign, what Afghan faction is indiginous?
Seth