What you and Todd make is an absolutely crucial point. Islamism is a reaction to a population that is moving away from their views, that is thinking for itself and preferring to not live under far-right oppression.
Afghanistan is a great example of this. Until the US armed the Taliban, places like Kabul were very progressive cities, where women had a lot of education and empowerment. After the US helped empower the Islamists, this was taken away.
Which leads me to something Todd did NOT say (in the excerpt you gave): that it's not just a decline in birth rates that suggest a turn away from Islam. Who controls birth rates? The women do. What Todd is describing is an Islamic world in which women are getting power in the households, and want it in the society. Islamism is a rear-guard action against this, and it is doomed to fail.
As to Sarko, well, Marx DID say his "history repeats itself, first as tragedy then as farce" quote about the first two Bonapartes. It's a shame France is going to repeat the failures of Bonapartism once again, especially by following the USA down the drain. And the world will live as one
Nitpick: the Mujahedeen, not the Taliban. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
In my memory, the Taliban was primarily a creation of the Pakistanis -- first supported by Bhenazir Bhutto against the then ISI-preferred Mujahedeen factions, then ISI supported them too -- with the US coming with some support now and then in opportunistic fashion (betting on the winning faction, hope of pipeline deal). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Then there was/is a Paktoonistan political movement which would seek to break the NWFP (where the Tribal areas are, where Osama bin Laden is likely hiding out today) and merge with the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan (if not the whole of the country) which Islamabad is not terribly taken by but of course many factions in Afghanistan were.) When I was at U Peshawar (1987-88, making me quite old I know), they shut the place down due to student demonstrations for this. They take this sort of stuff very seriously.
Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan needs to be taken as a whole, in this context. It may seem crazy of them to support the Taliban, but in reality it was more a best of many bad choices deal, with the added benefit of having a very weak Afghanistan which, with hostile India on the other side, has very important advantages of its own... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Rashid quotes the US State Department as saying in February 1997 "the Taliban will probably develop like Saudi Arabia. There will be Aramco, pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that." (Taliban, 179) And the world will live as one
I do not, however, think it impossible that someone from the Clinton state department would say such a thing - competence was not their thing either. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
But the interest was there, and Rashid isn't the only one to have made claims about a CIA role in the creation of the Taliban. Most agree that the Pakistani ISI played the crucial role, but that the CIA was there with money, some weapons, and a supportive posture. And the world will live as one
Turkmenistan has no oil, only gas. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
If you weren't one of those, and you had the affrontery to complain, you weren't likely to be very free. Khomeiny did not happen in a vacuum, though it is true the left in Iran didnt know what they were getting into with him and were quickly dispatched once he came to power. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
True shah equals king in farsi. In Pashto the word is kahn; most of my friends are the latter. Actually I think the last king was pashtun too, even Peshawar-based, as his nephew certainly is here in St Paul.
Sorry for the confusion on my part. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Mohammed Zahir's father was born in Dehradun, India descending from a Peshawar based Pashtun family, in other words Pakistani based... Zahir Shah was sent to be educated in France at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Montpellier.[1] He spoke fluent Persian, and some French, English and Italian.[2] His preference of the Persian language gave him credibility with the single most important group of the country: the Persian-speaking elite of Kabul.[3]
Zahir Shah was sent to be educated in France at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Montpellier.[1] He spoke fluent Persian, and some French, English and Italian.[2]
His preference of the Persian language gave him credibility with the single most important group of the country: the Persian-speaking elite of Kabul.[3]
