But in any case they believe that "Wahhabis" (the word they use to refer to Islamist Talib-types) are an immediate and present danger and far more to be feared than phantasms like "Western imperialism (TM)."
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Yes, I don't disagree.
But I'm not talking about "Western imperialism"; that's far too vague.
I'm talking, very specifically, about the apparent lack of forward development in Afghanistan caused by all the 'bad actors' I mentioned previously: placated warlords - narco traffickers - rough riding US forces - inefficient and/or grafting contractors - mercenaries - Talib remnants - others, off my radar.
If this continues well into the future (and every indication is that it will), new movements -- or revitalized versions of the one dispersed by the US invasion -- will arise. This isn't difficult to predict.
Chris, I get your point here; in fact, I've always gotten your point about how bad the Talibs were and are. But they're out of power now. New things are happening, new things that may make past events appear tame by comparison.
And the Talib smashers, so popular now in some quarters, aren't helping.
My point is straightforward: if things don't improve, in a few years we won't be talking about how marvelous it was the Taliban were blasted out of Kabul. We'll have other, perhaps larger concerns.
The US cannot maintain forces in Afghanistan forever -- running around, skirmishing with Wahhabis and so on. Unless the situation is stabilized, the inevitable pullout will leave a vacuum that will soon be filled by the most ruthless, now even better at killing for having fought US troops for so long.
.d.
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