Taliban: Winners…or Losers?

 

A victory... or not?



You know I have been writing about how I think the Taliban may or may not be able to keep the fruits of their “victory” in Afghanistan? Well, looks like…amazingly enough…even people who actually know what they’re talking about may kinda agree. I mean, not just kooks like me. Real experts.


Case in point: check out this article by Abubakar Siddique in a recent piece on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - Gandhara site, “After Lightning Victory, Taliban Faces Battle To Hold On To Power In Afghanistan.” Mr. Siddique is a long-time observer of Central Asian politics, and in his piece he concludes that the Taliban’s position is shaky, indeed. It has failed to manage Afghanistan’s economy and its foreign relations, and it has failed to gain legitimacy with its own people. It is fighting an increasingly desperate internal war with ISIS-K. It can’t feed its own population. Perhaps worst of all, it has been increasingly divided into hostile factions.


Could the Taliban actually be overthrown? Well, Siddique doesn’t address that. But, he does note that the Taliban could be greatly weakened. Maybe it could even be reduced to some sort of quasi-impotence, with large parts of the country ruled by local actors. That might be rather awful. The last thing anyone needs right now is yet another failed state providing free passage to every terrorist group and/or criminal organization on the planet.


~mjt


Source: “After Lightning Victory, Taliban Faces Battle To Hold On To Power In Afghanistan,” Abubakar Siddique, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty- Gandhara. https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-lightning-victory-power-challenges/31619594.html



Copyright©2021 Michael Jay Tucker

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