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Originally posted by Nothing But Net
But I never said Afghani = Muslim Extremist, or even Taliban. I do believe that people get the government they deserve.
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Most of the last two centuries of Afghan history has been marked by fights over its control. Russia and Britain, then the Soviet Union and the United States. Afghanistan was also primarily a monarchy until the early 70s. Based upon these factors, it would seem unlikely that the people had a lot of say in a government of their choosing.
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True, my government supported Afghanistan via money, arms, and training, but against invading Russians! We even boycotted the 1980 Olympics because of this issue. What was wrong with that? Is it our fault that they have apparently turned against us?
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Sadly, it could be. While the US may have had some humanitarian concerns, it was more of a Cold War battle. We used a lot of countries as pawns in that game. Add to this our support of Israel, the sanctions of Iraq, and the Palestinian situation, and you create a highly volatile situation.
After the Soviets withdrew, Afghanistan wasn't much of a factor...until it was known that Osama bin Laden was hiding there. At this point, according to what the government has released, these are ARAB hijackers, meaning they could be from one of 20 or so countries in the Middle East or North Africa (and Afghanistan is not an Arab country). The only role that Afghanistan really has in this is the issue of bin Laden...and they're still trying to figure out if he was indeed the mastermind of this.
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As the Taliban is in control of all communications in the country, one must assume that websites originating from there also controlled.
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Did this website specifically mention itself as a voice of the Afghan government? Or was it an independent website pulling news from Afghanistan?
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I never advocated violence against Muslims.
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No, but you advocated cyber-terrorism against Afghan web sites, which is really no better than what has been occuring here in the States over the past 4 days. bin Laden has a huge support staff, and I'd be willing to assume that most Afghans don't care who he is, nor do they support him. Writing an e-mail to, say the Afghan embassy or Afghan mission to the United Nations, protesting their harboring of bin Laden, seems reasonable. Calling them pigfuckers, and sending them a "scathing" e-mail when the US is still not certain of bin Laden's involvement, is not.
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My question is: what has the USA done to Afghanistan?
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See above...primarily, we played them like a cheap fiddle. Does that justify anyone bombing 3 sites in the United States? Of course not! Does it give us some understanding behind the "why"? To me, it does. Of course, the Taliban government has been making some statements over the course of the past few days that will only flame the fires of a possible war.
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The current regime must do the right thing in helping to bring these criminals to justice, or face the consequences. The whole world demands it. Or else it will be a war, surely. I hope not, for both sides.
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Agreed. Hopefully, Pakistan will play team ball and exert its influence on the Taliban.