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42 years since Soviets invaded Afghanistan, 32 years since they left, 20 since the US invaded. Now 0 days since US left. Shitshow clock restarts in the graveyard of empires. I’ll guess Kabul goes down and Ghani seeks asylum somewhere within the year.
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"In the wealthier neighborhoods of Kabul, a frequent high-stakes poker game, with as much as $120,000 on the table, includes government officials." A surreal and horrifying report of Afghanistan's paralysis in the face of the Taliban onslaught nytimes.com/2021/07/02/wor
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If the world were middle school, Afghanistan would be the kid who goes to school but never makes it to class because he’s always lying unconscious behind the dumpster having just been beaten up by one bully or the other
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Afghanistan really only has a good time during dark ages when larger empires/civilizational cores are in internal deep shit. The Middle Ages ~1000-1200 were good for Afghanistan.
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Indian and Afghan history have a curiously countercyclically correlated relationship. Even in mythic times. Shakuni, king of Gandhara (Kandahar), villain of the Mahabharata, is hanging out in India fomenting war, which presumably meant Kandahar was peaceful enough to leave.
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