Ronn, Thanks for the clarification, I guess I missed a subtility of the English language. My idea was not to glorify the events but rather to point out that this should come as a surprise. I've fixed my post.
quote:
Originally posted by Magness:
C'mon, Ryanamur. ALL countries have ALWAYS acted in the OWN best interests!!! And they ALWAYS will!!! It doesn't matter if the country is Western or not, capitalist or communist.
Indeed, I think that it most likely that it would have been a good idea to stay engaged in the area. But there's really not point to crying over spilt milk. Regardless, the true blame for the last 20+ years of ugliness in Afghanistan lies with those that committed the "original sin", the Soviet Union.
First, you don't have to convince me that all countries have and always will base their foreign policy on the best interest of the state. That's been my line for almost 3 months on this forum.
However, what leaders fails to recognize is that it's that ideology of always looking for the best interest that always puts us in trouble!
Now, about the 9-11 attacks, you must understand that Al-Queada (a muslim terrorist organisation) and the Taliban (once a rightfull government of a country) are two separate things mixed togheter by the Bush administration to help the American public see that the US is making progress in this war on terrorism.
About Al-Queada, they hate the West, particularly the US, for their capitalistic involvement in middle-east affairs for over 40years. The are also mighty pissed off at the US for having put military bases on the sacred grounds of Saudi Arabia and for not vacating those bases after the Gulf War. For those reasons, they will make the US and Western civilization pay. The problem with Al-Queada is that many muslims in that part of the world do agree with both Al-Queada's ideas, methods and goal!
Now, to the Taliban. They were the rightfull government of Afghanistan and were not recongnized as such by most countries in the world. No, they are not angels and far from it. However, their human right record is actually better than that of the current N-A (the former-former government of Afghanistan).
Putting the blame on solelly the USSR for this mess in Afghanistan is wrong. The Soviet-Afghan war lasted for many year only because of the US involvement. That's why the US got involved and supplied the Mujahidin with weapons and money. The US is also to blame for what happenned. But the blame also rest with the rest of Western Civilization because they backed the US in this event (and thank God they did!).
If you're still not sure, look around the battle ield in Afghanistan, you will find something very interesting. The US are fighting against anticated US equipement and their allies are using anticated Soviet equipment! So really, who gave the Taliban (former Mujahidin) their power: the US!
Funny thing is that the media do not show the equipment the Taliban are fighting with... they only show N-A equipment and stuff that was left around following the Soviet withdrawl.