Time magazine: “we don’t know how yet, but we’re gonna find a way to link the rise of fascism and avocado toast”

  • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The point is that US aid ended up in taliban hands in spite of US policy, not because of it. We know for a fact that the US would have broken ties had Pakistan’s enthusiastic cooperation with the Taliban and Al Qaeda been more understood at the time, and we know that because that’s exactly what happened when it was uncovered that the mass shooting spree Al Qaeda launched in India was carried out using weapons supplied to Pakistan specifically to give to local resistance fighters against the Taliban.

    Granted, the US should definitely have guessed better at the time given how Afghanistan routinely makes irredentist claims on Pashtunistan and Balochistan, meaning Pakistan would NEVER be a reliable ally in stabilizing the country, IE making it more able to press such claims with authority and millitary force, but the point still stands that people are waaaaay mischaracterizing the role the US plaid in the Taliban’s rise.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      The point is that US aid ended up in taliban hands in spite of US policy, not because of it.

      So because the government violated policy it wasn’t the US doing it?

      We know for a fact that the US would have broken ties had Pakistan’s enthusiastic cooperation with the Taliban and Al Qaeda been more understood at the time

      Highly doubtful. The US never had any compunctions propping up some of the worst human rights abusers in the world if there is a strategic or economic advantage to be had. See for example every right wing dictator in South America, Saudi Arabia and various genocidal governments of Israel.

      the point still stands that people are waaaaay mischaracterizing the role the US plaid in the Taliban’s rise.

      It really doesn’t. They LITERALLY couldn’t have done it without both direct and indirect help from the US.

      • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Guy I’m literally spelling it out for you, it happened because Pakistan was constantly lying about what it was doing with the stuff the US gave it

        If I take a sandwich you gave me and hand it to someone I know is gonna deck you, that doesn’t mean you punched yourself in the face just because you should have known better.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, that analogy doesn’t translate to international aid and also doesn’t explain why the US treated Pakistan as a trusted ally from the start of the Afghanistan war until finding the Osama bin Laden complex there.

          Nothing will convince your Dunning Kruger poster boy ass, though, so we’re done here. Have the day you deserve.