There is only one major country in the world today holding on against the Taliban: India. Does that make it the last liberal power?
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Or, alternatively, is Hinduism a better basis than liberalism on which to anchor the fight against Taliban barbarism?
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So liberalism gives you Taliban and illiberalism gives you resistance to Taliban?
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I’m saying Hindu nationalism and Taliban represent different strains of illiberalism that are incompatible with each other AND with liberalism.
India’s previous 90s posture on Afghanistan was formed against a backdrop of chaotic coalitionism and Kashmir terror, not ideology.
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I assumed you were kidding 😆. I don’t see how you can attribute the Taliban to a single dominant cause. It’s USSR+ISI+5 US admins + Saudi $ + Deobandi+Wahhabi theology. At best you can say liberalism failed to penetrate it.
Illiberalism vs illiberalism is just Hobbesian though.
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Half kidding. (1) There hasn’t been a single forceful appeal to resist the Taliban from Europe or US. A few journalists maybe a couple GOP Senators (2) resist the Taliban used to be the mark of civilization. (3) there have been forceful appeals from India. Ergo…
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India is bullshitting tbf since it lacks the interest, will, or capacity to do anything beyond trying to stop spillover into Kashmir. Cheap talk.
The big powers are merely finally giving up on a “civilizing” mission that was once serious. I’m curious if China will take a shot.
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The Taliban are awful, and the West is complicit in their emergence, but ultimately, I think we’ve learned exporting governance of any sort in postmodernity is the political science equivalent of settling Mars. We thought we had the tech to do it. We don’t.


