So many read this as "the situation was hopeless", but it is in fact an indictment of the US, which has more money than the Taliban and could have run this playbook in reverse under competent leadership. Having corruptible soldiers should be good news for a wealthy occupier.https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1426976247003983882 …
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The fact that the US poured so much money in to Afghanistan to be stolen instead of used to bribe the right people, and that the even this stolen money was stolen by locals rather than US generals, is our true national humiliation.
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I also enjoy the dissonance between "the warlike people of Afghanistan can never live in peace" and the Taliban simply negotiating their way to a rapid takeover of the country
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As I understand it, the Americans *did in fact* make fairly good use of it. Sent in special forces and B-52s, then the guys we were rolling with would make some phone calls and huzzah some big city surrenders.
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highly recommend The Anarchy by Dalrymple, history of the founding and imperial rise of the East India Company. Afghanistan is a peripheral but important part. The pattern of local/regional leaders switching sides based on money & momentum is central to the whole story though
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in that era and seemingly still now, it's why momentum can shift so quickly, in ways that are shocking if you don't get the dynamic. These leaders have their positions because they're pragmatic survivors in a deadly region & know how to read the winds of change
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The first CIA team to go in, just a week or so after the towers fell, brought along $3 million in cash (the bulkiest part of their equipment) to shore up the Northern Alliance and convince select leaders to join their cause.
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Recommended reading: First In, by Gary Schroen.https://books.google.se/books/about/First_in.html?id=JDYnfG9cxXYC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y …
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