That has more to do with the fact that the guy we put in charge was incompetent corrupt and we spent 20 years stuffing the pockets of contractors instead of building up Afghanistan. The US seems to be learning the wrong lessons from this, Afghanistan is the perfect example of our military's spending run amok. There was no oversight, goals, strategy, planning or accountability just blank checks while everyone involved knew it was going to shit.
Regardless of how you feel about the old government and the Wests complete inaction to reign in corruption. Continuing to fund the Taliban will definitely not lead to any of that money disseminating down to local level. If the old government was stealing 50% of what was being loaned, the Taliban will steal 100% of it and use most of it to further oppress the population.
I feel like I'm responding to a troll post with how short-sighted you are.
Well... you're kinda saying that if you didn't have money, it would be a logical consequence that you'd take away all women's liberties o.o
Kinda hard to see any point you make after that...
I'm personally not sure if it's a good move to block finances, though I can see it being used as a negotiation tactic to extend the evacuation deadline. Saying women not being allowed to walk the streets anymore is a logical consequence of taking the Talibans money, is quite hard to swallow.
Also, "women can't work now cuz they dont have money to pay salaries" is beyond idiotic... I'm guessing they're firing all the men now too, then? You realize employing women is not a charity right? They provide services just like men do.
Politico is desperate to kneecap Biden and get a jump on horseracing 2024.
After hysterically overplaying the Kabul airport story and convicting Biden of doomed mission, Politico announces it doesn’t believe 70k+ have been evacuated...
Zero proof WH is lying. Politico just doesn’t like the new facts.
TIL Kissenger is still alive. Why is The Economist going to him for takes? The Devil must not be returning their calls.
A fundamental concern is how America found itself withdrawing from Afghanistan "without much warning or consultation with allies or the people most directly involved in 20 years of sacrifice,” argues Henry Kissinger in The Economist
That money is absolutely not "theirs". You seem to suggest the Taliban government has some sort of legal legitimacy... It does not.
Furthermore most of the money being withheld is aid and loans. The Taliban absolutely has no claim to it.
If the Taliban wants that money it needs to demonstrate a willingness to cooperate with the international community and offer guarantees and avenues of oversight.
It doesn't matter how many M16s and Humvees the US left behind, the Taliban has no capacity to maintain any of it, to make ammo for anything or fuel anything. They need to buy all that stuff. Withholding the money basically guarantees all that gear will rust or fall apart without spares so it won't get used against anyone foreign or domestic.
Step 1. Don't blow up schools and murder school teachers. Especially schools that service girls.West demands improvement of women rights. How can it be done without money? It can't. So seizing money with demands that west knows are impossible to meet, is just theft.
Step 2. Don't treat women like breeding livestock.
Step 3. Stop beating women.
Step 4. Let women keep their jobs.
Step 5. Don't force women to wear potato sacks whenever they leave the kitchen.
The 5 steps above cost exactly 0 dollars. Once they've done that, they can talk about needing resources to do more for women's rights.
You would be surprised how little it takes to maintain basic arsenal and vehicles. If they can create their own ammo for old soviet platforms like 7.62 and 5.45, there is nothing stopping them from making 5.56. And in a hypothetical scenario when something prevents them from doing so, they can always buy it from "US Allies", countries like Qatar and such. The same goes for vehicles - they have been able to maintain a fleet of Japanese trucks the entire war. Nothing stops them from continuing to do so. They do have more than enough cash for it.
Now I am confused... Are you talking about the old US controlled government and US bombings, or the new Taliban government? I am sure that wives of Afghan soldiers that were bombed by US airstrikes and who were forced to prostitute themselves to higher ups in the military to get their dead husband's pensions would like to know that as well. Honestly, aside from few fashion issues, situation for them hardly seemed to change.
Also, since when does anyone from outside of Afghanistan suddenly care about women's rights over there? Where have you been for the past 35 years? That just seems like a whole load of BS and posturing. Quatar, UAE and SA called, asked to dial in all those Taliban feminists a notch.
Your silly trolling fools no one. We both know what is the only way to "fix" the afghania. Even journos were brave enough back then to talk about it
This also makes Afghanistan VERY dependent on China and the USSR. And at some point it won't matter if the US imposes sanctions on Afghanistan since Afghanistan will only be trading with Russia and its neighbors, which includes China.
As western financial institutions freeze the assets of more and more countries, other developing countries will move away from the west for just the reason you stated: if you put your money in western banks, you might not be able to get it back. This is just flat out self defeating.