Comments on: ‘It’s better to join the Taliban; they pay more money.’ http://warincontext.org/2010/02/03/its-better-to-join-the-taliban-they-pay-more-money/ ... with attention to the unseen Thu, 24 May 2012 19:47:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Paul Woodward http://warincontext.org/2010/02/03/its-better-to-join-the-taliban-they-pay-more-money/comment-page-1/#comment-7388 Paul Woodward Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:07:51 +0000 http://warincontext.org/?p=2917#comment-7388 Jason - I absolutely agree that in Afghanistan it's much more complex than occupier vs resistance but in a contest of affinities the US/Nato will invariably lose out if for no other reason than that the foreigners will inevitably leave. For an Afghan tribesman to "bet" in favor of the Taliban does not require that he be bribed - simply that he makes an intelligent guess about the future. Granted, this doesn't necessarily mean that the locals are rooting for the Taliban as much as they will often perceive them as a more reliable bet. Jason – I absolutely agree that in Afghanistan it’s much more complex than occupier vs resistance but in a contest of affinities the US/Nato will invariably lose out if for no other reason than that the foreigners will inevitably leave. For an Afghan tribesman to “bet” in favor of the Taliban does not require that he be bribed – simply that he makes an intelligent guess about the future. Granted, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the locals are rooting for the Taliban as much as they will often perceive them as a more reliable bet.

]]> By: Jason http://warincontext.org/2010/02/03/its-better-to-join-the-taliban-they-pay-more-money/comment-page-1/#comment-7386 Jason Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:41:49 +0000 http://warincontext.org/?p=2917#comment-7386 Paul, I got to disagree with you here on your portrayl of the Afghan insurgency simply as 'the resistance'. This is not Israel/Palestine, this is Afghanistan. Tribalism is a dominant dynamic, which makes it more complex than a simple occuplier-resistance relation. This is a great report that outlines current tribal trends in Kandahar and how mistakes in handling these relations directly led to the rise of insurgency. http://www.understandingwar.org/report/talibans-campaign-kandahar Your loyal reader, Jason Paul, I got to disagree with you here on your portrayl of the Afghan insurgency simply as ‘the resistance’. This is not Israel/Palestine, this is Afghanistan. Tribalism is a dominant dynamic, which makes it more complex than a simple occuplier-resistance relation.

This is a great report that outlines current tribal trends in Kandahar and how mistakes in handling these relations directly led to the rise of insurgency. http://www.understandingwar.org/report/talibans-campaign-kandahar

Your loyal reader,
Jason

]]>