The reparations to the government if Afghanistan, i.e. The Taliban, the government and the Taliban are one and the same now and any nonsense about them not reaching the Taliban is just sheer lunacy - i.e. right up the hard left's street.
The truth is Biden's unilateral withdrawal was a complete meltdown of a plan and absolute disaster. Being a senile 99 years old he somehow thought the Taliban would meet a rejuvenated srmy - one more than pleased to fight on after the rug had been pulled, foreign troops withdrawn, which let's face it is primarily US troops, having air support withdrawn, not having been paid for months by a corrupt Kabul former government and crucially with their morale rock bottom - or I suppose in Bidens terms - an A1 fighting force - it would be laughable if he actually didn't think this
An army needs good morale like a human needs oxygen without it it will swiftly be overcome, As Singapore in the WW2 gives a lesson on how a defeated army of numbers can be surrounded by a far more zealous and motivated fighting force.
To noone's real surprise The Taliban overcame a dispirited and bedraggled army, one in total disarray in a matter of days, not the 18 months or so Biden laughably and ludicrously thought, it was primarily a fiasco of his own making.
In his speech he was busy blaming everyone but himself, avoiding mentioning the total fiasco and the predictable and quickly victorious resurgent snd triumphant Taliban. He pointedly refusing to take any questions at all, one wonders whether the man would have been able to answer any anyway,, so an understandable avoidance strategy. He stuck to the popular line that the war is over for America which would get him all the brownie points at home, while avoiding the disastrous decision to withdraw virtually overnight leaving total mayhem and a murderous Taliban in charge. He despicably for an American president accused the Afghans of cowardice and not wanting to fight, without mentioning the heavy casualty toll of thousands of frontline Afhgan soldiers in the last 18 months while the US army stayed away from the front line suffering zero casualties. He was talking about a civil war when there hadn't been one recently, but there certainly was one after his intervention, and now will likely be thousands of women condemned to live as virtual chattals. Biden is just stupid enough to listen to The Taliban and might carry on believing their official propogsnda while Hell burns
The man's name will go down in infamy for what he's done, but with an election years away why should he care, he'll probably die before then and he can do what he likes. His presidency has been an unmitigated disaster and it's only been going five minutes.
Yes good post and a lot I agree with. I'll deal with each section independently of one another.
The above paragraph is a nore nuanced and fairer portrayal of what Burgon said. In fairness it was reported by certain right wing websites as he had said he would give reparations to the Taliban. Of course, he made no such promise. He spoke of reparations and support, but clearly and deliberately did not mention the Taliban. Of course there is a reasonable argument (as you have said) that it would inevitably end up with the Taliban. However that is slightly different from making out his position, or the left's position is to hand money to the Taliban, but rather the Afgani people. (As a slight aside, I wouldn't have used the word reparation in the above context).
Now for the nuance. The glib reality, we will already be giving the Taliban money and having conversations about more money. These will not be far left people doing it, but right wing people in government. It's already happening mate.
What I find curious about the UK, is that we do one thing and then almost over compensate to the other degree to prove we are not. I think the official British line is that bo communication was had with Sinn Fein/IRA when it was. You have had top diplomats now acknowledge they essentially promised a free Ireland to them. There is similar here. I think the lack of nuance, from our right wing press really damages our role and judgement on the world stage. We seem to continually want to keep a certain caricatured Britishness up.
Discussions now should be had about giving money to Afganistan as well. Partially because behind closed doors they are happening already, partially because it's the right thing to do (and will save a lot in the long run). Without going into enormous detail, most of Afganistan want peace and investment and were very supportive of the invasion initially for the above hope. The Taliban are not stupid and know people want peace and investment. They are busy trying to get finance from the US on exchange for no terrorism. If we can provide funding, we also have some leverage, and can hopefully use it to argue for a minimum standards on womens rights/access to education and for peace. My concern is we will get bogged down via a combination of no terrorism and control of borders.
It would also be a smart geo-political move. Unfortunately our approach to diplomacy seems to be dominated in this country by the hegemony of a handful of elite schools skewed analysis of WW2 as a continuation of Waterloo narrative. That you can only win respect or influence with the "never never never" approach. In my experience this is just untrue. If you create a financial dependency, both for the Taliban but also the populace you call the shots. The Taliban will accept in the short term as they are seeking big initial wins to cement a precarious position. If we dont offer it, Russia and China will. This discussion has to be had in the political classes without unhelpful distortions of what this means (that it's not about handing the Taliban money).
I've gone on too much so wont go into enormous detail on Bide other than to say I disagree. All I would say is he was dealt an awful hand, initially by Trump agreeing deals with the Taliban and agreeing to leave and secondly the broader picture-that it was a war America were losing. However he played it badly.
I thought his comment about people not wanting to die so why should they a bit chilling. Women and girls in particular are going to die now. That is now very much on the conscience of our government and Bidens administration. 5000 people a year is an insultingly low offer.
I also found his comment about not being interested in nation building, peace keeping or counter insurgency, but merely counter terrorism very alarming. I could go on, but let's leave it there for now.
