Afghanistan – Taliban Press Conference Notes

August 17, 2021

Notes taken during the just ended Taliban news conference (video, Pashtun+English overvoice) today held by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah.

– Starts with a Koran recitation congratulating the victorious and another one on unity.
– We had legitimate right to liberate the country.
– Pardoning all who have fought against us.
– We want no external or internal enemies.
– Strong Islamic and inclusive government.
– No Talib casualties in Kabul.
– Assures security in Kabul.
– Assures embassies of security.
– We want no chaos or inconvenience in Kabul.
– Confirms Talib only went into Kabul for security on streets. Rioters, thieves wanted to abuse Taliban name to search houses etc.
– Assures security for all neighboring countries.
– Assures international community that no country will be harmed from Afghan soil.
– Rights for women within framework of Sharia. Education, working etc allowed.
– Will build infrastructure for Afghan economy.
– Asks international community to contribute.
– Assures media activity. Can continue to report. But nothing against Islamic values. Should be impartial. Shall critique Talib work so Talib can improve.
– Media shall not work against national values or unity of the nation.

Questions round:

Q Aljazeerah:
About women.

Talib:
Women key part of society. Will work with them. Within framework of Islam.

Q:
Security of contractors, translators who worked for U.S., others etc.?

Talib:
We assure that all have been pardoned. No revenge. We don't want them to leave. We need their talents. Nobody will be interrogated or will have their houses searched.
All soldiers who have been fighting against us are pardoned.

Q Tolonews:
Pardoning?

Talib:
Everyone is pardoned. Harm was done by Talib due to the war. Assures that such will no longer happen.

Q:
About riots, thieves reports?

Talib:
We had to intervene in Kabul to stop that. Will disarm such people. Will bring back services.

Q:
?

Talib:
Negotiations took place in Doha for 18 month. But previous government sabotaged them and had plans for another six month war.
We have instructed everybody to not enter other people's house. Government formation will soon happen and things will then be clear.

Q:
?

Talib:
There will be difference in what Talib did 24 years ago in government and what it will do in future.
More developed now.

Q:
a. Government formation? b. Borders?

Talib:
a. Ongoing.

b. Borders are secured by Talib. No smuggling allowed.

…

Q:
?

Talib:
We have not one case of murders in provinces since we rule. Currently one kidnapping case. These will stop too.

Q:
Narcotics ?

Talib:
We will assure that narcotics will end. Lots of our youth use narcotics. From now on Afghanistan will be narcotics free. International help needed for alternative crops.

Q:
?

Talib:
We will have a strong government based on Islamic values. Still consulting on it. Will be inclusive.
Women will be able to work.

Q:
Foreign fighters in Afghanistan?

Talib:
Afghan soil will not be used against other countries. People who want to do that are not allowed on our ground.

Q:
Can women still work in the media?

Talib:
Everyone will be able to work. New government will issues laws regulating various fields.

Q:
Contacts with Abdullah, Hekmatyar, Karzai?

Talib:
Communicating with them. Who wants to serve the nation will not be ignored. Inclusive government.

Q:
International relations?

Talib:
Want to have good relations with all.

END

Posted by b on August 17, 2021 at 15:50 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Already better than what Murica+PuppetGovt were shoveling.
Best Wishes.

Posted by: IronForge | Aug 17 2021 16:04 utc | 1

What an honor to watch a nation reborn out from under the jackboot of empire.
The devil is in the details but they are showing much more leadership than they have been given credit for.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 17 2021 16:04 utc | 2

Sounds already better than Saudi Arabia tbh

Posted by: Midville | Aug 17 2021 16:11 utc | 3

Of course. Now we have to save the thousands of Afghanis who believed our lies and propaganda (and accepted our bribes) from the Taliban who are supported by the overwhelming majority of Afghani. Next, these terrible Taliban shall allow the restoration of the historical cultures of the Afghani tribes! Even worse, the Taliban shall eradicate the poppy fields like they had before we invaded them (that’ll piss off the CIA)! And so as we watch Vietnam 2.0, perhaps we should reflect on why we must repeat history when we REFUSE to learn from it. Just like the South Vietnamese government, the Afghani government was NEVER more than our puppet regime. Like the South Vietnamese government, the Afghani government NEVER had more than minimal support among the Afghani population. And just like the South Vietnamese government, the Afghani government fell as soon as we withdrew our support. Besides, if we had listened to the Founding Fathers, we’d never have gone to either Vietnam or to Afghanistan in the first place! “Nation building” has NEVER worked and has ALWAYS resulted in total disaster for those attempting it. But hey, why let facts, history, and right get in the way of a profitable (for some) enterprise.

Posted by: Barbarossa | Aug 17 2021 16:14 utc | 4

“Media shall not work against national values or unity of the nation.”
I think this means they fully understand how the “free” mass media will be used by the empire to attack them. Wise Taliban!

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 17 2021 16:20 utc | 5

Sounds promising. Let’s hope they stick to that as thoroughly as possible.

Posted by: pnyx | Aug 17 2021 16:32 utc | 6

Thanks b. Sounds reasonable and promising.
I hope that after 4 decades of suffering caused by US machinations a sovereign Afghanistan can finally get back on course and develop with the help of regional countries.
From Glenn Greenwald’s “The U.S. Government Lied For Two Decades About Afghanistan” via ZH/substack:
“[NSA capacity] that empowered them to be “secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation” in at least five countries. At any time, they could listen to the stored conversations of any calls conducted by cell phone throughout the entire country.”
“There was virtually nothing that could happen in Afghanistan without the U.S. intelligence community’s knowledge.”
To ensure national sovereignty and independence, the new Afghan government will want to consider replacing the US-installed communications networks that permits that.
There’s also all the US-installed news media, polling organizations, election bureaucracy, etc. that will need to be cleaned up and made sovereign …
Assuming US/NATO subversion and machinations can be prevented, I think in 20 years we will see Afghanistan far more improved, and the Afghan people far better off, than after the past 20 years of American/NATO military occupation and corruption.

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Aug 17 2021 16:35 utc | 7

Thanks for this post, b.

Posted by: beq | Aug 17 2021 16:37 utc | 8

This is a time of great opportunity for China and Russia. Their coming support for the “Afghan reconstruct” efforts should include sending Chinese and Russian Muslims to Afghanistan (20 million in Russia, 35 or more in China). This would tell the Atlantis power dreamers and their downtrodden populaces something worth considering.

Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Aug 17 2021 16:38 utc | 9

Many Thanks for posting that information, b!!!!! Brings happy tears to my eyes! The discontinuance of Pashtun revenge ritual is a very big thing. I see clear coaching by China and Russia about the utmost importance of ethnic harmony and the great danger that lies in its dysfunction. A big test will be the truthful reporting of Taliban statements in Western media. But as Gruff notes @5, Taliban have some media savvy and have adopted what are essentially are Russian/Chinese reporting guidelines.
Meanwhile, the domestic Blame Game is becoming more insipid by the minute. It’s a shame the pundits and politicos can’t literally eat each other as their absence would be a boon.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 16:41 utc | 10

In prior discussions there was concern expressed for the fate of the PMCs and other mercs. While the general pardon issued by the Taliban should relieve some anxiety, do understand that it was never an issue for the United States in the first place. Most American employers, and in particular the ones that hire mercenaries, offer only “at will” employment. There was never any need to find them safe transport out of Afghanistan. Their employer simply needs to terminate their contract and the PMCs’ transport problems are no longer an issue… for the empire.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 17 2021 16:43 utc | 11

@ Gordog, & Psychohistorian

They destroyed Afghanistan’s path to progress. We can’t undo that now. Afghanistan has to find its own way forward, that works for all its people
***
What an honor to watch a nation reborn out from under the jackboot of empire.
The devil is in the details but they are showing much more leadership than they have been given credit for.

I like any of your writing, those too. But we need to dig a little more.
Progress. Modernity. Equality.
Versus Tradition?
As a Fake occidental male, I think it’s a bias, confirmation bias. Most of Eastern culture are not linear on human history/future.
The history of Europe and all its Colonial implants is far from linear from darkness to the light of progress. And Wokestan isn’t the advanced part of the modernity, bringing the light of individual freedom to humanity.
Traditions, as you wrote, is exactly what made human societies alive and well. Changes are efficient when collectively assumed.
It’s why, for example, the Pashtunwali [well explained by Pepe Escobar] is, for Afghanistan and for today, a real Progress and a Modernity.
Versus this old Colonial shit.

Jules Ferry (28 juillet 1885)

« Messieurs, il faut parler plus haut et plus vrai ! Il faut dire ouvertement qu’en effet les races supérieures ont un droit vis-à-vis des races inférieures. Je répète qu’il y a pour les races supérieures un droit, parce qu’il y a un devoir pour elles. Elles ont le devoir de civiliser les races inférieures. Ces devoirs ont souvent été méconnus dans l’histoire des siècles précédents, et certainement quand les soldats et les explorateurs espagnols introduisaient l’esclavage dans l’Amérique centrale, ils n’accomplissaient pas leur devoir d’hommes de race supérieure. Mais de nos jours, je soutiens que les nations européennes s’acquittent avec largeur, grandeur et honnêteté de ce devoir supérieur de la civilisation. »

PONS translation :
Jules Ferry (July 28, 1885) « Gentlemen, we must speak higher and more truthful! It must be said openly that the superior races do indeed have a right vis-à-vis the inferior races. I repeat that there is a right for the superior races, because there is a duty for them. They have a duty to civilize the inferior races. These duties have often been neglected in history Of previous centuries, and certainly when Spanish soldiers and explorers introduced slavery into Central America, they were not fulfilling their duty as men of the superior race. But today I maintain that the nations of Europe are carrying out this supreme duty of civilisation with breadth, grandeur and honesty. »

And, you know what? Most of the public schools in France [642] are named by this Colonial apologist.

Posted by: Rêver | Aug 17 2021 16:47 utc | 12

Canadian Cents @7–
My understanding is Afghanistan will be upgraded ASAP to 5G by Huawei, which would also include nationwide broadband wi-fi. But there’s also a great deal of fundamental infrastructure that needs to be emplaced and made into publicly owned utilities, not anyone’s private domain as in too many corrupted nations.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 16:48 utc | 13

Thanks, b.
That is an impressive set of statements for the new government to issue. Impressive because:
a. it says “no kicking sleeping dogs”. “We’re not a threat. No export terrorism. No punish losing side’s intermediate players
b. Incorporating women into mainstream society has big dividends, and is a political stick that can be used internationally to discredit them. And that’s a significant, widespread problem for Islamic cultures, and they seem to be using feedback
c. Starting the regional economic linkages. I expect major announcements on this front shortly. This is all way to well-executed to omit that key piece. They are going to need a lot of new jobs to displace drug income, and they need it right away
I think the economic development projects is where the sore-losers, should there be any, will commence obstructions and interference. Both short-term (getting food in) and long-term (new industries, new job training, new trade relations)
The other big question I have, as many others have pointed out, is how to keep all the players on-side. Getting rid of outsiders is a strong, shared ethic. Working together as a team over a long period…not so much.
For me, that’s the big unknown. How well can they keep it together?
One good sign, tho, is the maturity and wisdom on display right now. This is good stuff.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Aug 17 2021 16:52 utc | 14

The Taliban seems to be more rational than what the media have told us past weeks.
This will be a big problem for the western neocons that wanted a irrational enemy to justify continued imperialism and war against Afghanistan.
Perhaps all noise about Afghanistan was nothing in the end? Considering how easily they took over also point to some considerable support among afghan people.

Posted by: Zanon | Aug 17 2021 16:54 utc | 15

Thanks for the update. Fingers-crossed. The opportunity here is tremendous for the ‘resistance’. Seems the only folks in Afghanistan who were isolated were the “Americans”.
It is fun to watch the bi-partisan exploding talking heads of “news” lament the fall of Kabul. The CIA control over the for-profit corporate media, which ranks something like 50th in the world for its ‘press freedom’, is plain as the war crimes on America’s face. The ‘media’ is like the wicked stepmother’s magic mirror, “You’re so hot; You’re so amazing; You’re the greatest wicked stepmom in the history of the world.” America’s perception of itself is a fairytale.

Posted by: gottlieb | Aug 17 2021 16:55 utc | 16

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO august 17: “A government that does not respect the fundamental rights of all Afghans and reinstates the reign of fear, risks international isolation.”
He is out of his mind! The colonial mission ruling Afghanistan for the last consisted of 36 nations. We can’t isolate them all, can we?

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Aug 17 2021 17:04 utc | 17

According to ZH, citing the Washington Post, “the Biden administration scrambled to deprive the terrorist organization [sic] of funding – freezing Afghan government reserves held in US bank accounts, and blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in US institutions, according to the Washington Post, citing two people familiar with the matter.”
Another chapter in the long and honourable US history of “reverse reparations”.

Posted by: expat | Aug 17 2021 17:08 utc | 18

Petri Krohn at Escobar’s VK provided this link to Colonel Cassad’s site and Kabulov’s full report:
“Special Representative of the President of Russia for Afghanistan, Director of the Second Department of Asia of the Russian Foreign Ministry Z.N. Kabulov on the situation in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 in an interview with the Russian media. Main theses:
🔹 Now it is safe there [in Kabul]. Any security is a conditional concept, but now it is safe there. Let’s start with the fact that yesterday the representative of the Taliban leadership changed the security of the Russian embassy, took over, provided security. Tomorrow, our ambassador will meet with their plenipotentiary representative and discuss further modalities, as we say, of the functioning of our diplomatic mission.
🔹 If we compare the negotiability of colleagues and partners, the Taliban have long seemed to me much more negotiable than the puppet Kabul government. We proceed from the premise that the agreements must be implemented. So far, with regard to the security of our embassy and the security of our allies in Central Asia, the Taliban have respected the agreements.
🔹 I think the authors of the inventions that the transfer of power in Afghanistan to the Taliban movement was the result of certain agreements with the United States, are trying to somehow justify the failure of the Americans in Afghanistan and file a case that this is a planned action. I think that’s completely unreasonable. And it happened as it happened.
🔹, the Americans were sent five thousand infantrymen to evacuate a certain number of their employees. They were apparently forced to stop temporarily arriving and landing civilian flights. This created chaos and, by and large, a mess, so it has nothing to do with the situation inside Kabul. Not only is there no unrest in Afghanistan’s capital, but no other city captured by the Taliban.
🔹 First, all members of the Security Council must make sure that the new government is ready to behave conditionally, as we say, in a civilized manner. That’s when this point of view becomes common to all, then the procedure [of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations] will begin. Only first the resolution of the Security Council, which will take such a decision, and then the technical point.
🔹 It is not for nothing that we have established contacts with the Taliban movement over the past 7 years, discussed many points. And we’ve seen that yes, this force will eventually, if not fully come to power, at least play a leading role in the future in Afghanistan. These are all factors, taken together plus, of course, the guarantees given to us by the top leadership of the Taliban gave us reason to treat the development of events calmly, but remaining vigilant.
🔹 Our ambassador is in contact with representatives of the Taliban leadership. Tomorrow he will meet with a coordinator from the Taliban leadership for security, including our embassy. He will discuss with him all the details of how they will ensure the external safety and security of our diplomatic mission.
🔹 We have long established ties, contacts with the Taliban movement. The fact that we have prepared the ground for a conversation with the new government in Afghanistan in advance is an asset of Russian foreign policy, which we use to the fullest in the long-term interests of the Russian Federation.
🔹 Russia is not guided by the opinion of the EU countries, developing its position on the situation in Afghanistan. A special feature [of the EU countries] is to make foreign policy mistakes. They have already committed one, for which the Afghan people are paying. Therefore, they are not a decree or an example to us.
🔹 we do not see a direct threat to our allies in Central Asia. There is not a single fact to the contrary.”
A few jibes aimed at Russia’s adversaries. A very welcome report!!!

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 17:09 utc | 19

We will assure that narcotics will end.

Oh sure, heh. They will voluntarily deprive themselves of the main profits of the Afghan economy (if it can be called an economy), billions of dollars from drug trafficking. Yep.
Other promises are just as plausible.
I understand why this is being done now. Such promises are equivalent to barbed wire fences around the Capitol after Biden’s “fair victory” in the election. The new government needs to hold onto the captured positions, so mimicking and adjusting to the situation is quite natural.
Of course, time will have to pass when it becomes clear what all these promises are worth, but personally, I have no illusions about the Taliban power. Just to remind once again that we are talking about a terrorist organization that came to power in the very heart of Central Asia. These are the same people who blew up the unique statues of the Buddha, carved into the rock.
Btw, from now on, Pakistan and Turkey will have a weighty argument in negotiations with Russia (and not only with Russia).

Posted by: alaff | Aug 17 2021 17:10 utc | 20

What they should do if the western media starts to bleat that there aren’t enough women in high places is just say “They identify as women”.
Works in the west. That’s why “The Highest Paid Woman” in US business, as trumpeted by the media, is actually a man. Call him a woman and Boom! You’ve come a long way, baby.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Aug 17 2021 17:11 utc | 21

Thank you for checking out this.

Posted by: Jo | Aug 17 2021 17:12 utc | 22

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 17:09 utc | 19
Cassad is always ahead of the game, worth checking him out often, he has a summary of the presser too with a personal comment: “nice words but we’ll see”.

Posted by: Paco | Aug 17 2021 17:13 utc | 23

karlof1 @13, thanks, I’m glad to hear that! Yes, lots of work ahead for the Afghan people. I trust/hope that they can stay out of the clutches of IMF deals with help from China and Russia.

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Aug 17 2021 17:14 utc | 24

thanks b… it sounds positive and i remain optimistic….

Posted by: james | Aug 17 2021 17:17 utc | 25

Cheering the defeat of the empire is called for, but know that this is far from over. The CIA definitely has “stay behind” units that will stir trouble. In particular we should expect some very dramatic “Shock & Awe™” class car bombings and similar attacks on civilians in the weeks ahead. The empire is petty and spiteful that way.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 17 2021 17:27 utc | 26

Amazing comments from Mr Kabulov. [Talk about an appropriate name! I’m reminded of Bush’s Iraq envoy, Bob McBaghdad! 😉]

It is not for nothing that we have established contacts with the Taliban movement over the past 7 years, discussed many points.

Who knew this? I sure didn’t.

Posted by: Gordog | Aug 17 2021 17:31 utc | 27

The Taliban actually did suppress Opium production when they got money from the U.N. for doing so.
For some reason, the U.S. insists on people doing things for them for free.
We might be able to secure passage for the Afghan collaborators by bribing the Taliban as well. It’s cheaper than keeping a garrison there. I never thought that U.S. personnel were in danger and that it was a bad look for us to panic so much but if a U.S. citizen is scared, they should be allowed to leave ASAP.
The only real danger for U.S. personnel would be if the U.S. is still keeping Taliban prisoners. If we are then they would likely take a few hostages for prisoner swaps. Knowing us, it’s likely that we are holding onto some. We should release them in exchange for safe passage of U.S. citizens and ‘foreign aid’.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Aug 17 2021 17:32 utc | 28

Child brides
As soon as the Taliban took over, FOX immediately started pushing out stories about the Taliban going door to door and grabbing young girls for child brides as spoils of war and looking for collaborators to punish. Lara Logan is always good for those type of stories.
The correspondents IN Kabul did not report seeing anything like that. Does anybody know what is actually going on? I would not put it past FOX to invent stories but I’m not going to make any assumptions. I think that FOX hosts report things that could be true. I mean, it could be true but I am interested in what is true.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Aug 17 2021 17:36 utc | 29

Overall, a moderate stance. Hopefully, they will build a good nation and contribute towards peace and prosperity in the world. They will be judged by their actions and outcomes. Who win be the winners and losers from this transition in Afghanistan?
Afghanistan need to issue sovereign money and do currency swaps to develop their economy. In which currency will they price their mineral wealth?
Afghanistan: $1 trillion mineral wealth “A follow-up report by the Afghan government in 2017 estimated that Kabul’s new mineral wealth may be as high as $3 trillion, including fossil fuels… The Pentagon memo called Afghanistan the Saudi Arabia of lithium and projected that the country’s lithium deposits could equal Bolivia’s — one of the world’s largest.” Afghanistan has valuable resources that many need to grow their economy. The value of many of those minerals has skyrocketed, sparked by the global transition to green energy.
China — already Afghanistan’s largest foreign investor — is seen as likely to lead the race to help the country build an efficient mining system to meet its insatiable needs for minerals. One of the Asian powerhouse’s mining giants, the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), already has a 30-year lease to mine copper in Afghanistan’s barren Logar province. Senior Taliban officials last month met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin, where Taliban Political Commission stated China would “play a bigger role in [Afghanistan’s] future reconstruction and economic development.”
Is the Empire still looting Syria’s oil? When will China & Russia ask it to leave Syria?

Posted by: Max | Aug 17 2021 17:40 utc | 30

Some headlines:
“Taliban say burqa not compulsory for women, hijab is as they take over Afghanistan”
“Female presenter interviews Taliban spokesman on Afghanistan television”
“Pentagon Says Kabul Airport Secured; DOD Evacuating Americans, Afghans”
“Taliban assures safety of Afghans who worked for US and allies”
Definitely not the old Taliban. One imagines they have much better advice these days.

Posted by: Bemildred | Aug 17 2021 17:40 utc | 31

by: alaff 20 They will voluntarily deprive themselves of the main profits of the Afghan economy (if it can be called an economy), billions of dollars from drug trafficking. Yep.
<= the main attraction to externals warring on self determination by the Afghanistan people has been the billions of dollars in drug trafficking profits and the millions of dollars in MSM propaganda that supports continuing to drain Afghanistan in order to profit from its resources. A proper analysis by those with their hearts and souls invested in Afghanistan would come to that conclusion I suppose.. maybe they will deprive themselves of drugs in order to deny all others any invitation to invade and occupy Afghanistan. But Afghanistan is pretty much land locked.. ? I think it needs to concentrate on gaining access to a sea port and it needs to concentrate on building roads and railroads.. If i were the Taliban I would issue script and use it to employee the people in training engineers and farmers, building infra structure.. and developing farmland into food production. so the nation would not need to reach outside for anything.. i would not do business with the outside world until these basics were complete, stable and adequate inside and until I was sure the people of Afghanistan believed in Afghanistan.. I will be interesting to watch..

Posted by: snake | Aug 17 2021 17:41 utc | 32

U.S. Freezes Afghan reserves held in U.S. largely IMF aid.
Well, if we are going to prevent the Taliban from administering that account, I sure do hope that we at least give Ashraf Ghani a debit card so that he can use it. Our guy sure did a bang up job the first time around.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Aug 17 2021 17:47 utc | 33

@ Posted by: alaff | Aug 17 2021 17:10 utc | 20
The spokesman said the country’s young male population is plagued with opium addiction. If that’s the case, it is profitable to extinguish with the poppy fields, as was the case with Communist China.
In any society, young male population is the most valuable asset. Assuming Afghanistan have an addiction problem on the scale of pre-Communist China, then we could estimate 40-45% of its adult male population is terminally addicted to heroine/opium. If that’s really the case, no amount of money earned from the poppy fields could possibly offset the loss of all of those adult males.
Therefore, it is very realistic the Taliban is serious in ending the poppy fields.

Posted by: vk | Aug 17 2021 17:48 utc | 34

One important feature of islamofascism is that there is no shame in openly lying even for the leadership cadres; as long as deemed good for the jihadi cause they will lie.
Taliban apparently wants to survive this time for longer and therefore wants to keep at least “partnership” with neighbouring countries. Therefore they will play along at least until they have full grip on the country. However, once it is achieved and they have confidence that they set up a bureaucracy and technical cadres, I have absolutely no doubt that they will kill the locals who are not one of them, submission is not sufficient, they will kill them all. This is what happened in Iran, Syria, and of course Afghanistan before.

Posted by: kemerd | Aug 17 2021 17:48 utc | 35

Interesting yet confused op/ed by Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, chair of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and research director of the Valdai International Discussion Club as he attempts to disect Biden’s speech defending his withdrawal. The following isn’t the only point in his essay where the writer shows confusion which is very unfortunate given his position:
“Biden’s ‘America’s Back’ vow, which we heard so many times during the presidential campaign and his term so far, actually means America ‘is back home,’ rather than back in the global arena. In this sense, Biden carries Trump’s torch. No matter what rhetoric is used to gift-wrap its real actions, the US is now pursuing a self-serving policy focused on its own interests.” [My Emphasis]
The writer doesn’t seem to know that what’s bolded above is how the Outlaw US Empire has always acted–100% Unilaterally in its Elite’s own interests, not the genuine national interest.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 17:52 utc | 36

Christian J. Chuba @29
Chile brides as Taliban policy? Obviously not. They needed to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people to achieve their lightning fast victory, and grabbing everyone’s young daughters would make that problematic at best.
This isn’t to say that there are not some Afghan rednecks out in the countryside taking advantage of the temporary interruption of civil order to get their jollies, but like the looters in Kabul they are probably going to be rounded up as criminals.
We should allow a couple days for the dust to settle before we hyperventilate over rumors.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 17 2021 17:52 utc | 37

Christian J. Chuba @29
It’s a concern but I think fairness calls for not holding Afghanistan to higher standards than other countries in the region, ex. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, etc.
For example, see:
Child marriage in South Asia UNICEF
Child Marriage On The Rise In India During The Pandemic – NPR
COVID: India sees a surge in underage marriages | Asia – DW

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Aug 17 2021 17:53 utc | 38

Here is another summary by Colonel Cassad. (Google translation from Russian)

The Taliban in Kabul gave the first official press conference on behalf of the new Afghan authorities. In addition to reading statements, the Taliban also answered questions from journalists.
The main speaker was Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. According to him, Mullah Baradar, who is to become the president of Afghanistan, has already arrived in the country.

Women will be able to receive education up to the university level.

Women will have the right to work.

The Taliban will ask all women to wear headscarves, but they will not be required to wear the burqa.

The Islamic Emirate does not threaten anyone and is not going to be at enmity with anyone. Revenge is not the Taliban’s way.

The leaders of the Islamic Emirate have ordered a general pardon. The Taliban are ending their enmity with everyone who opposed them in Afghanistan.

The Taliban are proud to be the force that was able to liberate Afghanistan from foreign occupation after 20 years of fighting.

The security of foreign embassies and international organizations is a priority for the Taliban. Taliban special security forces will provide perimeter protection for both those leaving Afghanistan and those who remain.

A strong inclusive (!) Islamic government will be formed in Afghanistan.

The Taliban are not going to attack American citizens at the Kabul airport. None of the American citizens or citizens of other countries will be harmed.

Foreign media will be able to continue working in Afghanistan. There will be an opportunity to criticize the Taliban government and make public statements about its work.

Freedom of speech in Afghanistan must be in line with Islamic values. The media must work for the unity of the nation so that all Afghans live peacefully like brothers.

Civil servants must continue to work for the benefit of the state and society. The general amnesty applies to them as well.

And again about women. All women’s rights will be guaranteed within the limits of Islamic law. The Taliban consider women a key part of society, but they must abide by the norms of Islam.

The Taliban will not pursue Afghan translators who have worked with the occupation regime. They will not be harassed or retaliated against. They do not need to leave Afghanistan.

The Taliban assures, including the United States, that the territory of Afghanistan will not be used to attack other countries.

All Afghan military personnel who worked directly with the occupation forces will also receive amnesty.

The Taliban want recognition from the international community, which should not be afraid of the Taliban. The Taliban does not pose a threat to other countries and is ready to discuss all possible problems in relations within the framework of bilateral or multilateral negotiations to resolve problems.

The Ghani government was weak and deceived the Afghans. It did not fulfill its promises and fled.

The Taliban will ensure the safety of the people of Kabul and will prevent robberies, looting, theft and other crimes.

A Taliban spokesman boasted that the Taliban took all of Afghanistan in 11 days.

Regarding the violence during the war years, the Taliban states that it was not out of revenge, but they had no choice since there was a war. Now the time is different, so the approaches will be different.

The Taliban promises that they will change Afghanistan very soon. These will be positive changes, because every Afghan wants a better life. The Taliban will take serious steps to improve the Afghan economy with the help of other countries.

The Taliban have very good relations with Pakistan, Russia and China. But the Taliban have no allies and are not part of any military-political bloc.

From the Taliban’s perspective, the Afghan war is officially over. The Taliban want the times of war to be a thing of the past, and Afghanistan is no longer a battleground for Afghans and foreign powers.

The Taliban have extensive experience in various fields that will help in the process of changing Afghanistan for the better.

The Taliban are committed to ensuring that the Afghan government is open to the people and includes representatives of different groups.

The Taliban say they will not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for international terrorists (a thick allusion to ISIS).

Those present at the press conference note that the Taliban were not so sure of the answers to 2 questions – regarding women journalists and the situation with drug production in Afghanistan, although they said that the work of women will be carried out within the framework of Sharia law, and they intend to produce drugs stop.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 17 2021 17:56 utc | 39

This is not your father’s Taliban, at least I hope so. If life in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan are indeed calm under Taliban rule, then there can be no greater indictment of NATO’s occupation and the puppet government it paid to maintain a state of conflict, chaos and corruption.

Posted by: Rob | Aug 17 2021 18:01 utc | 40

“We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example…. The Bible tells us, how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements, but always pursue solidarity. ”
from Donald J Trump’s inaugural speech.
We all know what the reality turned out to be.
Let’s see the Taliban back their words with action. So far so good, and much better than expected. We are but 2 days in, very long way to go.

Posted by: Et Tu | Aug 17 2021 18:02 utc | 41

Very curious!! Chechnya’s Kadyrov has a very different view: “‘Prepare for the worst’: Like Bin Laden, Taliban is another ‘American project’ & ‘US scam against Muslims’”:
“‘America has come up with another scam against Muslims. They said they would never get out of [Afghanistan], and now they’ve abandoned everyone and run away,’ Kadyrov said. ‘Imagine, for decades, people have been dying there. Five years ago, there were already more than two million civilians killed!’
“According to the Chechen leader, the Taliban is an American project and is not to be trusted. He compared the group to Bin Laden, the former leader of Al-Qaeda, who Washington funded in the war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.”
Just what the Establishment Narrative needs to survive. At least we can see where kemerd @35 gets its talking points.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 18:03 utc | 42

Should clarify that my comment @38 wasn’t about those Fox News rumors specifically – I feel William Gruff’s comment @37 was a better response to that – but about child marriage in general.
Same can be said for women’s rights: the Western media shouldn’t single out post-liberation Afghanistan while ignoring similar things in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. But they probably will.

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Aug 17 2021 18:15 utc | 43

@Jörgen Hassler | Aug 17 2021 17:04 utc | 17

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO august 17: “A government that does not respect the fundamental rights of all Afghans and reinstates the reign of fear, risks international isolation.”
He is out of his mind!

Yes, it has been clear that he is out of his mind for a decade at least. But which government is it “that does not respect the fundamental rights of all Afghans and reinstates the reign of fear, and risk international isolation”? I think you find that government in Washington DC. 😀
I think the press conference by the Taliban spokesman was very positive and promising. This is the best way to counter the snake-like attacks represented by e.g. Stoltenberg. It is clear that China and Russia is good advisors here, but obviously the Taliban itself has moved forward.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 17 2021 18:21 utc | 44

Petri Krohn @39–
Thanks much for that transcript! I imagine the nascent Afghan government will get lots of international support when they condemn the Outlaw US Empire for the theft of Afghan’s monies. Perhaps this will be one time the Empire gets shamed enough to undo its theft. I’m not too surprised at Kadyrov since Martyanov’s views are quite similar. Yes, it’s only Day 2. And the specter of the Outlaw US Empire removing its killers as the Taliban begin to govern is quite amazing. Western media will learn swiftly that they won’t be allowed to air fake news about Afghan events, with FOX News likely to be the first to be expelled. IMO, all foreign media will be required to register as agents of foreign nations once laws begin to get enacted. Interesting the lack of questions about the new government’s structure, or perhaps that’s still being negotiated. Which raises the question: When will the Doha Talk Shop be shuttered?

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 18:21 utc | 45

Posted by: Gordog | Aug 17 2021 17:31 utc | 27
A lot is lost or worse, manipulated with translations, so who do we send to Kabul? Kabulov of course. If he needs to start running he won’t have to worry about former translators well being or falling down from airplanes 😉

Posted by: Paco | Aug 17 2021 18:22 utc | 46

The Talib have been in communication with certain others who understand and practice the art of high-quality communication.
The result?…acknowledgement that a nation is composed of its people and the culture peculiar to their circumstances. Thus we get:
…right to liberate the country from foreign occupiers.
…Shall critique Talib work so Talib can improve.
…Who wants to serve the nation will not be ignored.
…Media shall not work against national values or unity of the nation.
…We invite help to replace narcotics with alternative [FOOD] crops.
Overall, a demonstration of high-quality effects caused by high-quality communication.

Posted by: chu teh | Aug 17 2021 18:31 utc | 47

I won’t get my hopes high that they’ll be much more sensible and less murderously loony than the last time, and that they won’t go back to their old ways once the country is pacified and other countries stop looking, but that would of course be great.
There’s one point where I’m quite confident they’ll deliver, it’s on poppies and opium, because they basically don’t have much choice. Considering there are 40 mio people in the country now, twice as many as in 1999, and the quite crazy demographics of the country, they don’t have the option to keep fields for opium, they’ll have to farm real food for their people, as soon as possible, to feed everyone, or face rising prices and popular revolt.
“- Assures media activity. Can continue to report. But nothing against Islamic values. Should be impartial. Shall critique Talib work so Talib can improve.”
Good, at least they’re more clever than elite and leaders in other countries. Could be BS and lies of course, but at least they realize the reasoning that sound criticism is good and helps to improve oneself – we’ll see if they actually allow it.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 17 2021 18:33 utc | 48

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 18:21 utc | 45
Actions speak louder than words, that’s the general attitude in Russia concerning the events in Afghanistan. For the time being the Taliban are still in a terror list, the UN will have to issue the health certificate for them to be cleared.

Posted by: Paco | Aug 17 2021 18:36 utc | 49

Afghan central bank chief flees Kabul! How much money did he take? He previously worked at the U.S. Treasury, the World Bank and in private equity. An Empire’s lackey. Good riddance.
“Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), Afghanistan’s central bank, is a wholly government-owned bank of Afghanistan which was established in 1939. The bank currently has 46 branches throughout the country. In May 2020, the bank launched a campaign to promote the use of Afghan currency instead of Iranian rials in the western provinces.”
The financial system of Afghanistan is dominated by private banks. There are 16 active commercial banks, which conduct standard banking operations. Let’s see if the Taliban end their ability to create money (credit) and turn them to investment banks. The Empire wanted to make Afghanistan a Neoliberal state?
Afghanistan would do better by issuing sovereign money and pursuing state-industrial financial system model like China.
Will Afghanistan/Taliban pursue usury and neoliberal model?

Posted by: Max | Aug 17 2021 18:44 utc | 50

If the Outlaw US Empire wants China’s help in Afghanistan, then it must modify it’s Anti-China policy is the gist of the linked Global Times editorial. Like the op/ed I linked above, this writer’s also somewhat confused:
“For the sake of counter-terrorism, the US destroyed the Afghan government and caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties. Yet, Biden said that the US military presence was only to fight terrorism, not build the country. This is bitterly disappointing. It makes people believe that today’s world is facing a fundamental misfortune: The strongest country in the world is good at destruction, but not interested in reconstruction.”
How is it a “misfortune” that the “destruction” is ending so the “reconstruction” can begin? Here, his vision is clearer:
“China doesn’t take advantage of other’s perilous state but hopes that Afghanistan can realize a peaceful transition and end chaos for good. Putting an end to battles as soon as possible is clearly conducive for the vision to bring all Afghan people to a better life. In his conversation with Blinken, Wang Yi opposed the US move that it engages in deliberate all-around suppression of China to harm China’s interests but asks China to cooperate with it. It is very necessary at this moment to directly point out that the US is a strategic rogue.” [My Emphasis]
It was good for China to publicize that it was asked for help and also to reply as it did. As Giraldi noted in a recent article, the Outlaw US Empire’s lack of a professional diplomatic core causes many fundamental errors in policy like the one Blinken just made with China. Building such a core that’s objective will be very difficult, however, thanks to the politicization of university international relations curricula and the much bigger problem of the falsification of history. There are a great many adjustments that are required for the United States to become a normal nation, if indeed that’s possible at this stage in its existence.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 18:48 utc | 51

@32, Snake.
You said:
But Afghanistan is pretty much land locked.. ? I think it needs to concentrate on gaining access to a sea port and it needs to concentrate on building roads and railroads.. If i were the Taliban I would issue script and use it to employee the people in training engineers and farmers, building infra structure.. and developing farmland into food production. so the nation would not need to reach outside for anything.. i would not do business with the outside world until these basics were complete, stable and adequate inside and until I was sure the people of Afghanistan believed in Afghanistan..
====
I think this is where it’s at, Snake. The Chinese, Russians, Iranians and the adjacent states have already got this thought thru, and that’s why I said I expect a steady drumbeat of economic deal-making and ground-breakings and interim-supply-shipments from future trading partners. I’d expect that drumbeat to start within days, and be outward-in (announced from outside Afghanistan first), mostly from China, Russia, Iran and maybe even some from Pakistan.
The remarks about “leave behinds” and domestic terrorism to stir up divisions in the ranks and fear among the people are also highly likely.
Pretty interesting. Thx to all posters.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Aug 17 2021 18:51 utc | 52

Barbarrosa@4:
Somehow I sensed a tinge of sadness in your post @4 regarding the sudden loss of a puppet government in Kabul. Take heart! We still have plenty of puppet governments at our discretion around the world: In S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Aus/NewZ, Singaporia, Etc. etc. That is only a sprinkling in Pacific/Asia, not to mention India, Saudia, and puppets sitting further west. We are still fine. We will still be able to defend American security and freedom anywhere in the world, except in Russia and China. But then, whom amongst us Americans want to nation-build dumpsters quarters such as Russia and China anyway???

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 17 2021 18:53 utc | 53

Will Afghanistan/Taliban pursue usury and neoliberal model?
Posted by: Max | Aug 17 2021 18:44 utc | 50
At least, not overtly. Sharia, like Jewish and Christian religious laws, forbid charging interests. If I recall, Jewish work-around is that it is OK to charge interest to non-Jews, something that was used by Christians… Anyway, “serious” Muslim allow joint investments/profit sharing type of arrangements, and one can expect Taliban to do exactly that. Leaders spend a lot of time in the Gulf states where banking is like that.
For similar reason, I would expect Taliban not to try a larger religious zeal on female rights than “our allies” like Qatar. Nothing to extoll, but it is a workable social model that we accept — in “allied countries”.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 17 2021 18:58 utc | 54

Kudos to b, for the resourcefulness of having access to material such as transcripts of this news conference. You seem to have the infra-structure of journalistic resources comparable to Xinhua/Tass :-).
This is a great site for us living in America to gain truly worthwhile global news information; Thanks Thanks Thanks!!!

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 17 2021 19:00 utc | 55

Paco @49–
Yes, agreed. We need to see those actions, which demands honest media reporting. And the reporting must come from well beyond Kabul.
From my POV, I see Russia saying that an effort to lift UNSC sanctions will soon be made, but much depends on the attitude of the Outlaw US Empire which is already using hybrid methods to destabilize the nascent government. China’s quite correct to call it a “Strategic Rogue.”
As usual, the EU’s behind the curve, while Russia and China seem to have the inside track on communications with the new government.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 19:01 utc | 56

this was a domino show, us and nato tross didnt see is coming, until the last stone aka. kabul was fallen.
for me, the fast fall of Mazar-e-Sharif, was a big surprise, shortly after, the talibs declared control of all checkpoints on the borders (even if not 100%), both crashed any hopes for afg. government – no afg. soldier would stand now against talibs, but us/nato wasnt fast enough to anticipate, weekend!
back to my theory of domino – this was planned, needed preparation, talks, logistics and a disciplined army of fighters/persons on the fronts – the last one is for me the second bigest surprise, completly unexpected.
someone is behind this big operation, they had months to prepare and talk, I call it the mandela-moment( xx years…), he and few of his sa-friends were sitting in prison and start to dream.
disclaimer – I dont trust TB or foundamentalic religions, we will see later, how progressive or barbaric they will be. purges and killings they can hide from the public.

Posted by: prneost | Aug 17 2021 19:07 utc | 57

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 19:01 utc | 56
There is a heading in El País today, “NATO warns….” I mean they lost the war and they are warning, what a bunch of overpaid clowns, I hereby ask for forgiveness to the world, pathetic Borrell comes from Spain and leaves our name very very low.
Another ally is not sleeping quietly, Cassad has an article about forty Ukrainian soldiers left behind with some Romanians and Bulgarians in an abandoned base. Taliban arrived, collected all weapons and told them to get the hell out of here to Pakistan, on your own!!! . Faithful allies must be analyzing the situation.

Posted by: Paco | Aug 17 2021 19:14 utc | 58

Christian J. Chuba | Aug 17 2021 17:47 utc | 33
U.S. Freezes Afghan reserves held in U.S. largely IMF aid.
IMF Aid is usually in the form of loans, which could be for specific projects. which were made to the previous Government.
Questions, Money paid already, or paper money not yet spent? If so – for which projects?
Would the “US” try to make the Taliban honour these debts?
Note that monetary questions remain after any regime change. It would possibly be naive NOT to expect the US to use these on paper “loans”, (Possibly paid to Ghani etc) as leverage.
*****
Drugs. I can’t hope to guess the percentage of drug use by the Taliban themselves, but if it is high then there is potentially an enormous problem to get their own troops to go “cold Turkey or break the habit”.
I doubt there was much captagon, (as used by ISIS) but could other tailor made drugs have been imported? (Which is probably unlikely)

Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 17 2021 19:15 utc | 59

Kabulov: “the Taliban have long seemed to me much more negotiable than the puppet Kabul government. ”
“negotiable” is actually a long Russian word that puts together “agreement-able”, with the meaning of capable of negotiating and agreement and to observe that agreement. Something that is lacking in the West according to Russia — at the very least, this capability stays hidden and lacks a special name.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 17 2021 19:16 utc | 60

Recommended read:
The relative decline of US imperialism
Long story short: the fall of the USSR masked the fact that the USA (and capitalism in general) has been declining since the end of the 1960s.

Posted by: vk | Aug 17 2021 19:18 utc | 61

Another ally is not sleeping quietly, Cassad has an article about forty Ukrainian soldiers left behind with some Romanians and Bulgarians in an abandoned base. Taliban arrived, collected all weapons and told them to get the hell out of here to Pakistan, on your own!!! . Faithful allies must be analyzing the situation.
Posted by: Paco | Aug 17 2021 19:14 utc | 58
My understanding from another source is that it was a smallish military installation manned by NATO allies of “second concern”, and two busloads, 80 people, were evacuated, while 40 left. While expected to leave, nobody is rushing them. For the sake of all Bulgarians, Georgians, Romanians and Ukrainians there, I hope that regular buses to Peshawar will resume.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 17 2021 19:23 utc | 62

“[NSA capacity] that empowered them to be “secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation” in at least five countries. At any time, they could listen to the stored conversations of any calls conducted by cell phone throughout the entire country.”
“There was virtually nothing that could happen in Afghanistan without the U.S. intelligence community’s knowledge.”
Canadian Cents / Greenwald @ 7
I have been emphasizing this for 5 years and that any military operations anywhere must use that as the starting point. This is the art of war no?
And my point was that I could defeat that (drone proof tech) with the cheapest (good) method possible.
Which I did while my “mad online persona” threatened to publish it because otherwise nobody would believe it.
I only only posted cost estimates and project names. Mad is one thing. Evil is another.
Here’s the rub, at least collectively these guys are smarter than I am. Phones are for disinformation and intrigue.
More important, it all is extremely alarming. Developing a malign AI costs next to nothing. If you know how.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Aug 17 2021 19:31 utc | 63

I think there’s a window now for two sides in media perception and that is good, you get better reporting. One side is neocon/imperialist/human interventionist/Nato who think withdrawal is the worst idea evah. But on the other hand the Biden admin has got a lot of credibility to start with so there is a window for the pro-withdrawal rationale and for supporting information. It helps that there is a lot of popular support too.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Aug 17 2021 19:35 utc | 64

@ Piotr Berman (#54), thanks for your perspective.
There is USURY in Afghanistan. “The benchmark interest rate in Afghanistan was last recorded at 14.84 percent.” What happens to pre-TB loans? It will be interesting to see Taliban’s actions in the financial realm.
Please share when a journalist asks good questions about the monetary system. Most refrain, why?

Posted by: Max | Aug 17 2021 19:39 utc | 65

I saw this as on another site, as a description of what Boris Johnson might say to the MP’s in Whitehall tomorrow.
Johnson argued that nations shouldn’t unilaterally recognise a new Afghan government, instead working together to ensure the Taliban uphold ‘internationally agreed standards on human rights and inclusivity’.
Lord help us if Johnsons’ idea is to impose “wokeism” or LGBTxxx in Afghanistan!
****
Pre-correction, it should read Lord help THEM, as we have enough problems of our own.

Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 17 2021 19:43 utc | 66

Why in the world would we think that this band of thugs will keep their word any more than the US or the Afghan government did?
Sounds nice? Not really. Notice the allowance of women to work and go to school “within the parameters of Sharia law”. That means put on your burkas and find your every day escort just to go to the grocery store.
In other words, I’ll believe them when I see them actually following through with all the nice words.

Posted by: Linda Allewalt | Aug 17 2021 19:43 utc | 67

Posted by: alaff | Aug 17 2021 17:10 utc | 20
Well….we all know what happened the last time the (previous version 1.0) Taliban started burning the poppy fields. The CIA wasn’t very happy.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 17 2021 19:43 utc | 68

Sounds good enough but I have read “La Historia Me Absolvera”
Then, when in power, the executions began.
Hoping no excuse/pretext comes up to send in uSA military again.

Posted by: JaimeInTexas | Aug 17 2021 19:44 utc | 69

From M.K. Bhadrakumar:
“Social media reported that at the Kabul residence of the Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib who post-haste fled to Tajikistan on Saturday with President Ashraf Ghani, three Toyota Landcruiser SUVs were found stacked with American dollar bills.
Mohib was the shadow king of Afghanistan. He controlled the country’s defence budget.”
https://www.indianpunchline.com/reflections-on-events-in-afghanistan/
“Russian embassy spokesman in Kabul Nikita Ishchenko has given on record a graphic account of Ghani’s shameful escapade: [..] Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac.”
https://www.indianpunchline.com/reflections-on-the-events-in-afghanistan-2/
Sounds like international arrest warrants are in order …
This line MKB had about occupied Afghanistan:
“When corruption eats into the vitals of a nation, the state structures decompose and collapse. And when the leadership loses respect of the people, the war is lost.”
Seems highly applicable to the US, too (perhaps he meant it to be.)

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Aug 17 2021 19:47 utc | 70

David G Horsman | Aug 17 2021 19:31 utc | 63
While the five eyes can store and read anything on anyones portable phone, they have actually have to have one first. I doubt that area coverage existed in the major part of Afghanistan. So what would the Five ears be listening to – not the Taliban.
They are just discovering the delights of phones and other weird pleasures, such as here;
https://twitter.com/azhar_suffi/status/1427335780595273732/photo/1

Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 17 2021 19:50 utc | 71

@ 70 cc.. thanks for asking my earlier question on the nature of the money via indian punchline article…
@ Piotr Berman | Aug 17 2021 18:58 utc | 54.. they all condone usury while finding a work around to it… very predictable of people who profess a particular religion..

Posted by: james | Aug 17 2021 19:51 utc | 72

asking – answering..

Posted by: james | Aug 17 2021 19:51 utc | 73

US State Department holds press conference following Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 17 2021 19:57 utc | 74

@Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 17:09 utc | 19
Another factor which contributed to the chaos and already known tragedy in the airport, reported through Spuntik by Afghans on the soil, is that someone spread the rumor that the “Canadians would evacuate some 20.000 people”, causing a massive exodus to the airport od those wanting to live the “American Dream”, with the people leaving even without luggage and personal documents for the airport…
If that is so, and as the falling of two Afghan citizens from the fuselage of an US aircraft is under investigation,the culprite should be found and the punishment applied. No word from the UN, nor its UNSC, on this outrage…..
I can not find hard to believe that at least some rogue actors in the US would want to leave in the middle of chaos and cause a carnage which they then would blame onto the Taliban.
Another intend to cause chaos and mayhem was the fact that people in Taliban costume started marauding and entering homes in Kabul and perpetrating robberies to cause a feeling of total insecurity.
As the Western world turns inside down, one wonders why Interpol is so worried, and spread notice, by fake “Covid Vaccine” certificates, and is not trying to detain Ghani who flew with part of the Afghan treasury….

Posted by: Asha K. | Aug 17 2021 20:03 utc | 75

@Posted by: Linda Allewalt | Aug 17 2021 19:43 utc | 67
Yeah..Sharia is most regretable for women, but what is your opinion on the fact that in some EU countries, like France, you can not go today into a Carrefour to make your groceries shopping if you do not hold a “Covid Pass”?
Then, there is around half the population of the West who not even with a escort ,are able to leave their countries if they do not allow being innoculated with experimental genic therapies, and in many cases they can not leave even their neighborhoods, or go out to whatever thye would wish to do…
I fear, maam, that at this point in history and time, criticizing the Sharia from the West sounds like what it is, virtue signalling and plain demagogia….

Posted by: Asha K. | Aug 17 2021 20:12 utc | 76

Tom P @ 14 – “They are going to need a lot of new jobs to displace drug income, and they need it right away”
I am really curious about this. You generally transition crops with growing seasons.
My advice to the Taliban is to instead consult their vast pool of local farmers on the agriculture strategy. Ask them what works before integrating the external resources and methods.
With the drug problem I recommend a faith based solution (IE AA, NA, 12 step programs) informed by science. A dual diagnosis paradigm is compatible with Islam. Often PTSD and other traumas lead to drug abuse. Harsh criminal sentencing doesn’t help much or at all, community support (and jobs) does.
Also, they should use media like MoA and the gold mine of analysis available in alternative media. It certainly works for me. Thanks everybody!

Posted by: David G Horsman | Aug 17 2021 20:14 utc | 77

I was wondering how 6-7,000 men, allegedly redeployed in haste to counter the 100% predictable Taliban advance on Kabul, could not secure a single bloody airport and avoid the fustercluck we all witnessed.
Here may lie the answer:
https://youtu.be/7aUqnUCsHx8
at approx 5:00:
“US… footprint began at 2,500 men… and by the end … approx 4,000 troops..”
So much for rapid deployment. 7,000 in the media, less than half in reality. Still, how can 2,500 men in charge of a single airport, since they already lost the rest of the country, not even keep control of one runway?? Yeah, guns won’t help you against unarmed civilians, do you not have any imagination???
Since they had over 1 year to prepare for this scenario, after the trillions they spent, was razor wire really too expensive to put around the perimeter as a deterrent/precaution??? Is the US military really only just trained to call for air support and drop bombs?? Are these the same idiots we must rely on to defend us in Europe???? God help us all.

Posted by: Et Tu | Aug 17 2021 20:17 utc | 78

@ Posted by: Linda Allewalt | Aug 17 2021 19:43 utc | 67
Nothing.
That’s why Russian and China are still negotiating, and why Russia has already claimed they will “wait and see”.
Now that the USA is defeated, there’s no hurry.

Posted by: vk | Aug 17 2021 20:19 utc | 79

Sounds like an offer of peaceful coexistance, plus a clear plea for help, of course, all subject to Islamist rule.

Posted by: Asha K. | Aug 17 2021 20:20 utc | 80

@Taliban lol. Re agriculture.
Both in terms of jobs and “the green new deal” making use of small family farms / ranches using high intensity farming seems the best strategy.
You want to attach a cheap greenhous to the house or barn on most farms.
Optionally you can put solar, wind or small hydro at a farm.
You design this around transportation, communications backbone but emphasize local over distance use. You use hubs too.
This was my idea (lots of railway) for Alberta, Canada’s future and (unlikely) transition off oil.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Aug 17 2021 20:25 utc | 81

The Taliban should open the hand on women´s rights and civil liberties, but, of course, as the times obligue, hold a tight grip on media operations of destabilization we all know at this forum and whose crushing they will find a good help in the Russian experience….
It is possible that, if things start to sound better like in Saudi Arabia, a not despicable number of young Western professionals could be willing to flew their currently impoverishing and in whole process of enslavization to foreign hedge funds and countries, to help develop the country.
At least there there is a project, an illusion, a future, a dream…
After all, there is a not despicable number of Western people who uses to go to work in KSA for high wages eventhough sharia reigns there too….
They should start publishing job offers asap…eventhough well could be that an altruist internationalist movement of solidarity from the Islamic world could start also…

Posted by: Asha K. | Aug 17 2021 20:31 utc | 82

Asha K. @75–
Thanks for your reply and observation! As I wrote yesterday and at other times, Western BigLie Media is charged with upholding the Establishment Narrative, which is why it only broadcast scenes from the airport where the havoc was caused by the Outlaw US Empire’s disruption of normal operations. The panicking Kabulites were provided the reason to panic by that very same Narrative. Clearly, they were not informed of the very recent events of total surrender in non-Pashtun regions and utter lack of revenge reprisals.
As for trustworthiness, just how much trust can be put in Western governments and their BigLie Media apparat to tell the truth versus the Taliban who are just now getting an opportunity to speak to fellow Afghanis and the world? How many times have the Taliban lied in the past year? The West? I don’t know who wrote these words for Reagan, but “Trust, but verify” is just plain common sense, and ironically a Russian proverb of which his writer was ignorant.
IMO, at this point-in-time, it’s vitally important that ALL Media/Establishment Narratives be deemed false until proven correct as best as possible. Gee, I seem to recall writing that very sentence back in 2016. And it’s not just FOX News that needs to be turned off; they all (Western Corporate Media) merit the FOX News treatment.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 20:39 utc | 83

It seems plausible that part of the reason for the rapid collapse of the Afghan army as advanced by b was that the troops have not been paid for a number of months. So where is their cash? Has it really been siphoned off by corrupt Afghan officials or was it corrupt US officials. Or did the US start turning off the cash tap some months ago when they knew they were going to leave? Nothing would surprise me about US incompetence but it would be instructive to hear the facts.

Posted by: Phil Espin | Aug 17 2021 20:42 utc | 84

Like Gordog, I didn’t know that the Russians had been talking with the Taliban for 7 years – thanks to karlof1 for that nugget.
It’s been clear all along that the Taliban has received excellent practical advice on how to take and run a country. Seven year’s worth of advice, amid the discussions to reach what must be a mutual understanding.
As I look at the list of Q&A – and thanks to b and Petri both for those – it seems striking that here is a template for a people to overthrow its occupier or oppressor and take its own land into its own keeping. It amazes me to see that a new textbook example for this has just been displayed to the world.
What a great achievement already, in this very thing.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 17 2021 20:45 utc | 85

just to significantly slow down (or someday even stop) opium production and export would be a great service to the whole world. I believe they will. that’s why they are asking for help on crop substituion
and did I say it yet today, f*ck the CIA!
p.s. some/many of those afghanis fleeing and at the airport etc are US collaborators, corrupt scammers and torturers. they are not ‘translators’. I know the Taliban said they would pardon all but that’s as unreasonable as pardoning no one.
for me personally, I certainly wouldn’t want to live under any form of Taliban or sharia law, they hang/execute fags I mean gay boys like me.

Posted by: michaelj72 | Aug 17 2021 20:47 utc | 86

kemerd @35 has a point; one of the central beliefs and rules in Isalm is “taqiyya” — sacred deception and duality. Lying is not only allowed, but encouraged when dealing with non-Muslins in any aspect of human life.
Allah himself is referred to in the Koran as “the great deceiver.”

Posted by: AntiSpin | Aug 17 2021 20:49 utc | 87

Off topic, but maybe of some use to those reading these threads.
You can bypass virtually any paywall including NYT, WaPo and WSJ – and numerous European and Asian sites with a simple plugin for Chrome or Firefox found at Github (where developers share code and ideas).
https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome
Install it in concert with uBlock Origin (an ad blocking plugin).
I think it tricks the paywall software into identifying your browser as Google’s crawler or whatever it’s called. It’s open source and has been validated by thousands of devs, so no spyware, malware or other nefarious functions.
Some of the sites will still install cookies and thereby limit the number of articles you can access in a given time period, but you can clear your cookies manually or with other plugins/features that do it automatically at a set interval.
I apologize for the off-topic contribution, but it’s been very helpful in the last few weeks and as a regular reader/poster I can assure you this isn’t some kind of spam; just wanted to share the knowledge.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 17 2021 20:50 utc | 88

>>>Why in the world would we think that this band of thugs will keep their word any more than the US or the Afghan government did?<<< Perhaps because they already did? 2/20 Doha agreement: U.S. state Dept under Pompeo and Taliban https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf
The Taliban did not attack U.S. troops from that date onward. The agreement called for a ceasefire and the Taliban honored it. If the U.S. had (or does) abrogate it by keeping a base in the country then the Taliban will attack us. It’s funny that there are so many experts in the U.S. who interpret this as a sign of weakness to mean that the U.S. can garrison Afghanistan w/2,500 troops.
———————————–
A more general answer to that question is that smaller countries keep agreements because it is in their best interest to be reliable. Russia and Iran keep agreements. The U.S. is notorious for breaking agreements because we believe that to be our prerogative. No reason to read more into it than that.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Aug 17 2021 20:53 utc | 89

Thanks Max at 30.
Yes the USA still robbing and stealing the oil , the wheat and burning the fields which the farmers are waiting to harvest in Syria.
Shame on the empire , UN and the EU to promote and support the nasty regime of the US , all in support of the Zionist in Israel and across the world .
I hope the Syrian will wake up one day and do what the Talaban did in Afghanistan.
Where is the United nation , it is a joke , they found it to serve their interests , occupy , kill people and steal their resources all in the name of democracy while leaving the worst regime in the world the Saudis in power , that tell the whole story about their B. S.

Posted by: Bobby | Aug 17 2021 20:57 utc | 90

Posted by: David G Horsman | Aug 17 2021 20:14 utc | 77 and others
Re: The request for help replacing some crops (i.e., poppies), I think they’re going to have a hard time finding one anywhere near as profitable.
Given that it was an open secret the US had designs on extracting precious minerals and rare earth materials, I suspect that China will be consulted to develop this market if the Taliban are smart.
But it may not be very easy.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 17 2021 20:58 utc | 91

How long before attacks on embassies and similar start. Not Taliban but US proxies. Boris the clown wants a G7 on Afghanistan. I can’t see the G7 crowd waning to help rebuild Taliban Afghanistan so its most likely about how to make Afghanistan keep bleeding.
Taliban will most likely have their work cut out over the next year or so culling the stay behinds or whatever they are called.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 17 2021 21:05 utc | 92

Escobar has a new name replacing his Empire of Chaos–“EMPIRE OF REVENGEFUL COWARDS.”
IMO, under Sharia Law, banking ought to be formed as a public utility. One basic, big boost for the new Afghanistan government would be for its neighbors to accept its national currency for commerce and not force it to use hard currencies. Here’s a helpful website for Islamic Finance and Banking. It’s initial entry:
“While elimination of ‘Riba’ or interest in all its forms is an important feature of the Islamic financial system, Islamic banking is much more. At the heart of Islam is a sense of cooperation, to help one another according to principles of goodness and piety (but not to cooperate in evil or malice). In essence, it aims to eliminate exploitation and to establish a just society by the application of the Shari’ah or Islamic rulings to the operations of banks and other financial institutions. To ensure compliance to the Shari’ah, Islamic banks use the services of religious boards comprised of Shari’ah scholars.
“Islamic finance may be viewed as a form of ethical investing, or ethical lending, except that no loans are possible unless they are interest-free. Among the ethical restrictions is the prohibition on alcohol and gambling and the consumption of pork. Islamic funds would never knowingly invest in companies involved in gambling, alcoholic beverages, or porcine food products
“Its practitioners and clients need not be Muslim, but they must accept the ethical restrictions underscored by Islamic values.” [My Emphasis]
Clearly, any IMF or World Bank loan would be considered unethical and thus illegal under Sharia. That’s a facet of Islam I’ve known for decades and is one of the main reasons why the West has always feared Islam.
Its clear many barflies need to get up to speed on Islamic Law, for it’s not what the Establishment Narrative has said it is for a great many years.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 17 2021 21:08 utc | 93

@Posted by: michaelj72 | Aug 17 2021 20:47 utc | 86
Why would you wish to leave for anywhere when you just enjoy a good bunch of privileges over the majority of Western taxpayer population, including free health assistance for whatever operation you could wish subject your body to, while others, including fragile elders, are denied assistance and entry at hospitals, even for their chemotherapy treatment, if they are not innoculated with the mRNA product as happened recently in France?
You would be a fool…Enjoy while you can..

Posted by: Asha K. | Aug 17 2021 21:09 utc | 94

Alex Mercouris has a really excellent commentary [and not too lengthy] up as of just a few hours.
He covers the phone exchanges among Lavrov, Wang, and Hooknose Blinken—the calls initiated by the latter.
Alex sums up with a sweeping historical perspective, starting with the US intervention in 1978, via the Islamist insurgency it created—in the context of the superpower rivalry.
Today, the US is ‘out in the cold’ concludes Alex, while some Russian veterans of that 1980s conflict are ‘surely savoring the irony.’
Indeed, historians centuries from now will look at this as a 40-year war that the US decisively lost.
Its footprint, or even foothold, in Central Asia is gone. Russia, China and Iran are consolidating the Eurasian heartland. And the US is indeed sidelined thoroughly.
Is Central Asia just the beginning of more dominoes to topple?
https://youtu.be/yQWojZT6lvU

Posted by: Gordog | Aug 17 2021 21:22 utc | 95

karlof1 @ 51, I think you misread what the article was saying. The sentence “This is bitterly disappointing.” goes with the previous observation that the US military was only there to fight ‘terrorism’ and not to help rebuild the country. That seems an accurate observation of the stagnation period of the previous twenty years, if perhaps more generous than it needed to be. Indeed, it is what I have heard others express as an appropriate task for all the US military currently overseas – that they should be brought back to help fight the climate wars and return the US to a better condition here at home instead of on questionable missions abroad.

Posted by: juliania | Aug 17 2021 21:27 utc | 96

@Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Aug 17 2021 20:53 utc | 89
“A more general answer to that question is that smaller countries keep agreements because it is in their best interest to be reliable”.
A more general answer to that question is that, at this point, after two years of our governments lying us in our very faces, and saying one day something and some hours later the contrary, like their assurance that “vaccines will not be mandatory”, anybody will sound more relaible than them…
One is to believe, that a religious fundamentalist is fundamentalist also for morals, and includes avoiding being caught lying with all the face, especially in public, and that being the Taliban a tribal society, moreover, the value of own´s word is just a matter of survival at those lands….
In the outlawed environment of Western governments, where unaccountability for everything is a feature, where selling the country with its citizenry inside to foreign hedge funds and corporations so that they experiment at will with their bodies and health while plundering all the fruits of a decade of hard work is sold through the media as a good and hope for the nation, lying has already turn, since decades ago, into exchange currency by excellence…
Our elites, in debt for their US funded scholarhsips and government posts with high life long wages, whether they are at government or change sides with the other party, bet all for the US survivial, and thus we fall along the US through the precipice…
At this point, neither the Western goverments, nor its gullible, lazy, hedonistic, uneducated at least half the population have any credibility, as the two years of pandemic clearly showed, at this point, anyone, including the Taliban, offer a more reliable alternative…..
I fear that is what the Russians, and anybody with two fingers of forehead who have not passed at least the last two years watching TV or hearing the radio, understand and are trying to convey

Posted by: Asha K. | Aug 17 2021 21:35 utc | 97

Caudines forks, an humiliating defeat but…
I posted an answer to 3 barflies but the link at the bottom is a must read.
So scroll down and thanks to
Alberto | Aug 17 2021 16:05 utc | 240
Clueless Joe | Aug 17 2021 15:11 utc | 234
@ mauro rossini | Aug 17 2021 12:28 utc | 208
for your help! For 60 years, I thought that pitchforks had been used to bend the Romans and was simply the name of the place. North of Pompeii, Benevento
The French expression is a bit distorted, we should say “passer par les fourches” and not “sous les fourches” .
But looking a little more, I realize that the story didn’t stop there and finally the auspice is not so good:

The Senate of Rome refused to acknowledge this surrender, which, according to it, was the personal responsibility of the two patricians at the time consuls. And it decided to rearm the legions that had returned to Rome in order to avenge this humiliation. As for the two defeated consuls, they were sent back to the Samnites to be executed, but Pontius, disgusted with the bad faith of the Roman Senate, released the two scapegoats. And the war went on.

US Senate overheaded by warmongers and what could happen 2022?
For now, enjoy the Caudines Forks moment! A lot of truth and asches is coming out of this Vesuve, could be devastating.

Here is a must-read Op-ed
The only truth about US disastrous Afghanistan war is that it was all based on lies
By Scott Ritter, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/532305-taliban-victory-us-lie/

Posted by: Rêver | Aug 17 2021 21:36 utc | 98

I’ve heard Wahhabism declared a cult but now a Taliban spokesman is saying Wahhabists have “deviant beliefs”.
Meanwhile I can see other reasons why the Taliban might want to keep Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda at arm’s length. Al Qaeda funded by Saudi Arabia caused the Taliban to be forced from power for twenty years which must have been upsetting. It’s also pretty obvious that it was Saudi intelligence that organised 9/11 although the Taliban got the blame. I can imagine that the Taliban are not too keen on Al Qaeda and its Saudi backers.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Aug 17 2021 21:39 utc | 99

Asha K
here’s your hat what’s your hurry
the Tylers and Ron Unz are calling

Posted by: ld | Aug 17 2021 21:42 utc | 100

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