An estimated 2.4 million Afghan girls remain excluded from secondary education five years after the Taliban took over the country, a U.N. agency said Tuesday, renewing a call for an immediate restorat...
Biden began freezing access to Afghan funds as early as 2021.
Yep, this is pretty famous - but it’s not USAID, which is what was being discussed and the cessation of which was the thesis of the article about the current famine which you initially linked to.
USAID payments (coming out of stolen Afghan funds) were targeted to areas of the country that maintained US-aligned groups.
So that means they didn’t count or…? I’m sorry, I’m sincerely not sure what you’re trying to say here.
notorious for their opium smuggling and child rape.
I’m serious about the threat of agrieconomics tedium, I do love this topic. In brief tho, the cessation of the opium trade was the largest (internally originated) exacerbating factor to the 2022 famines and completely destroyed the economy in the poorest regions of the country, and was undertaken as a moral crusade because the trade in opium poppies had again shifted the balance of influence away from local elders and the Imams. It’s one of the Taliban’s most effective moves in consolidating theological control over the agricultural regions of the country, and it’s (predictably) been a humanitarian disaster. The attempt to course-correct with saffron may work eventually, but it’s barely comparable in terms of market size (even without considering sanctions) and so many regions are still suffering under the loss of the poppy trade.
(Also good point with the child rape, I agree totally: it’s tragic that gay marriage was such an impossible sell to the crossroads muslim population - the Taliban clearly had that particular competition in the bag before it even started)
The money was transferred to accounts used by US relief agencies.
So that means they didn’t count
If I shove you over, take your wallet, hand half the money to my friend who lost his house in a fire, and hand you back an HEB gift card with the other half banked on it? Did I just give you food aid?
In brief tho, the cessation of the opium trade was the largest (internally originated) exacerbating factor to the 2022 famines and completely destroyed the economy in the poorest regions of the country
The sudden loss of an external market for opium exports certainly hurt the Afghan economy overall.
But that market was the result of US military and contractor affiliates and the Karzai government leaving. So… should they simply not have left? Afghanistan should just stay a narco-state forever?
it’s tragic that gay marriage was such an impossible sell to the crossroads muslim population
It’s not an impossible sell. But it’s also not something foreign governments are going to impose on a population at gunpoint.
This is how you get the old Soviet “Gayness is just when the Brits do Imperialism” bad take.
The money was transferred to accounts used by US relief agencies.
So… wait, then what’s your point?
If I shove you […] Did I just give you food aid?
Vile sure, but literally yes.
The sudden loss of an external market for opium exports certainly hurt the Afghan economy overall.
I’m sorry, this is just me being genuinely unclear on what you’re saying here - do you mean that the US military and the Karzai government was the primary market for / exporter of Afghan heroin, or that in leaving they somehow restricted the export of heroin in a way that it hadn’t been restricted through their presence, or that there suddenly was no global demand for heroin, or… what? Again not trying to be shitty, genuinely just unclear.
It’s not an impossible sell.
Sure! But it was an impossible sell - and my use of the past tense there was quite intentional. In Afghanistan under Taliban rule it’s still effectively impossible, but the cultural attitudes of the crossroads region as a whole are, incredibly slowly, changing in a more positive direction with regards to homosexuality (outside the bounds of pederasty, which is it’s own disgusting side topic). However my invocation of the concept was to highlight the use of child rape as a rhetorical tool to polarize attitudes towards the northern alliance, while ignoring that the Taliban’s approach was to simply declare child rape legal if you’re married (but not if it’s gay child rape - no, that’sA Bridge Too Far!). A clever loophole, though still by any other definition child rape.
should they simply not have left? Afghanistan should just stay a narco-state forever?
Bit of a false dilemma here. So stepping around it to the issue, I’m genuinely interested in why you’re presenting the export of narcotics as being a Bad Thing™. That was one common piece of rhetoric trotted out to justify having blown the crap out of some random farming village (and that the US is actively using to justify murdering random fishermen in south/central america), and it’s as much a pro-imperialist argument now as it was back then.
This is how you get the old Soviet “Gayness is just when the Brits do Imperialism” bad take.
I’ve not encountered this one before, that’s… another one for the inconveniently-on-brand pile, I suppose.
It’s unfortunately a valid question. I don’t know how that factors in to the argument that dismantling USAID hasn’t lead to a famine. Or how it shows that USAID to afghanistan didn’t continue for 3.5 years after the US withdrawal.
You know you could simply elaborate on your point, instead of resorting to accusing me of performatively misunderstanding a confusingly presented argument. This has been quite a pleasant conversation otherwise.
Yep, this is pretty famous - but it’s not USAID, which is what was being discussed and the cessation of which was the thesis of the article about the current famine which you initially linked to.
So that means they didn’t count or…? I’m sorry, I’m sincerely not sure what you’re trying to say here.
I’m serious about the threat of agrieconomics tedium, I do love this topic. In brief tho, the cessation of the opium trade was the largest (internally originated) exacerbating factor to the 2022 famines and completely destroyed the economy in the poorest regions of the country, and was undertaken as a moral crusade because the trade in opium poppies had again shifted the balance of influence away from local elders and the Imams. It’s one of the Taliban’s most effective moves in consolidating theological control over the agricultural regions of the country, and it’s (predictably) been a humanitarian disaster. The attempt to course-correct with saffron may work eventually, but it’s barely comparable in terms of market size (even without considering sanctions) and so many regions are still suffering under the loss of the poppy trade.
(Also good point with the child rape, I agree totally: it’s tragic that gay marriage was such an impossible sell to the crossroads muslim population - the Taliban clearly had that particular competition in the bag before it even started)
The money was transferred to accounts used by US relief agencies.
If I shove you over, take your wallet, hand half the money to my friend who lost his house in a fire, and hand you back an HEB gift card with the other half banked on it? Did I just give you food aid?
The sudden loss of an external market for opium exports certainly hurt the Afghan economy overall.
But that market was the result of US military and contractor affiliates and the Karzai government leaving. So… should they simply not have left? Afghanistan should just stay a narco-state forever?
It’s not an impossible sell. But it’s also not something foreign governments are going to impose on a population at gunpoint.
This is how you get the old Soviet “Gayness is just when the Brits do Imperialism” bad take.
So… wait, then what’s your point?
Vile sure, but literally yes.
I’m sorry, this is just me being genuinely unclear on what you’re saying here - do you mean that the US military and the Karzai government was the primary market for / exporter of Afghan heroin, or that in leaving they somehow restricted the export of heroin in a way that it hadn’t been restricted through their presence, or that there suddenly was no global demand for heroin, or… what? Again not trying to be shitty, genuinely just unclear.
Sure! But it was an impossible sell - and my use of the past tense there was quite intentional. In Afghanistan under Taliban rule it’s still effectively impossible, but the cultural attitudes of the crossroads region as a whole are, incredibly slowly, changing in a more positive direction with regards to homosexuality (outside the bounds of pederasty, which is it’s own disgusting side topic). However my invocation of the concept was to highlight the use of child rape as a rhetorical tool to polarize attitudes towards the northern alliance, while ignoring that the Taliban’s approach was to simply declare child rape legal if you’re married (but not if it’s gay child rape - no, that’s A Bridge Too Far!). A clever loophole, though still by any other definition child rape.
Bit of a false dilemma here. So stepping around it to the issue, I’m genuinely interested in why you’re presenting the export of narcotics as being a Bad Thing™. That was one common piece of rhetoric trotted out to justify having blown the crap out of some random farming village (and that the US is actively using to justify murdering random fishermen in south/central america), and it’s as much a pro-imperialist argument now as it was back then.
I’ve not encountered this one before, that’s… another one for the inconveniently-on-brand pile, I suppose.
Jesus, dude
It’s unfortunately a valid question. I don’t know how that factors in to the argument that dismantling USAID hasn’t lead to a famine. Or how it shows that USAID to afghanistan didn’t continue for 3.5 years after the US withdrawal.
Then you’re being deliberately obtuse
You know you could simply elaborate on your point, instead of resorting to accusing me of performatively misunderstanding a confusingly presented argument. This has been quite a pleasant conversation otherwise.
I think I’ve spilled enough ink on the subject
Ah - that would explain why this reads like a blotter…
(that one may be a stretch, I admit)