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Getbig Main Boards => General Topics => Topic started by: syntaxmachine on February 28, 2013, 12:32:59 PM
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Afghanistan was a rather different place before religious extremists began a revolt against the Soviet-backed PDPA government in 1978. These terrorists were to some significant extent funded by US taxpayers (without their knowledge, of course) and trained/armed by the USG because it was deemed in the national interest to undermine a Soviet satellite and inflict a Vietnam-like defeat on the Russians once the opportunity presented itself.
The country had been on a steady path to modernization -- not linear by any means but all the same slowly incorporating mandatory education, education for women, significant infrastructural development, and so forth into its society -- since its establishment as an independent state in 1919.
The result of the uprising has been a period of 30+ years of continual warfare that has made the country one of the most violent places on the planet, full of strife and endless humanitarian crises. Here are some pictures from 1967-68 which give a hint of what the place was like before the endless carnage.
Whatever the ostensible purpose of funding "freedom fighters" (typically, terrorists who are willing to promote our interests), I grow weary of having my money funneled to operations which kill so many people and wreck cultures around the world -- all for an indeterminate or possibly nonexistent benefit to my security. We (usually) don't kill these people directly, but funding terrorists groups who do hardly seems any better.
The latest incarnation of this phenomenon is the USG's recently announced ramping up of support for Syrian groups of questionable status in that country's ongoing civil war.
(Here's the source of the pics; there are many more) http://www.pbase.com/qleap/afghan (http://www.pbase.com/qleap/afghan)
(http://ic2.pbase.com/g2/54/14154/2/2355046.iAABsM4L.jpg)
(http://m1.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1082071.A00203R.jpg)
(http://m4.i.pbase.com/u16/qleap/upload/11479994.A00209R.jpg)
(http://m8.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1297608.A84103R.jpg)
(http://ic2.pbase.com/g2/54/14154/2/1874271.cdY0Auew.jpg)
(http://m1.i.pbase.com/u14/qleap/upload/4246681.A72002R.jpg)
(http://m4.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1064664.A00142R.jpg)
(http://m1.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1109921.A00223R.jpg)
(http://m3.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1061133.A21004R.jpg)
(http://m5.i.pbase.com/u8/qleap/upload/1464035.A85118R.jpg)
(http://ic2.pbase.com/g2/54/14154/2/1082083.Pr4JLucf.jpg)
(http://m4.i.pbase.com/u11/qleap/upload/2710154.A20017R.jpg)
(http://m2.i.pbase.com/g3/54/14154/2/120423982.3d77LRLy.jpg)
(http://m1.i.pbase.com/g3/54/14154/2/120404891.0mOWHUjB.jpg)
(http://m7.i.pbase.com/g3/54/14154/2/121740067.eswkgxeK.jpg)
(http://m5.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1065905.A00161R.jpg)
(http://m9.i.pbase.com/u7/qleap/upload/1065889.A00166R.jpg)
(http://m7.i.pbase.com/u9/qleap/upload/1664217.A00224R.jpg)
(http://m5.i.pbase.com/u12/qleap/upload/6052965.A72013R.jpg)
(http://m1.i.pbase.com/u35/qleap/upload/23172191.A53002R.jpg)
(http://m2.i.pbase.com/u21/qleap/upload/13704292.A73014R.jpg)
(http://m2.i.pbase.com/u22/qleap/upload/12669112.A73007R.jpg)
(http://m8.i.pbase.com/u10/qleap/upload/2187188.A86105R.jpg)
(http://m9.i.pbase.com/u18/qleap/upload/11750999.A02003R.jpg)
(http://m5.i.pbase.com/u38/qleap/upload/25091415.A50012R.jpg)
(http://m0.i.pbase.com/u38/qleap/upload/25186390.A55002R.jpg)
(http://m7.i.pbase.com/u8/qleap/upload/6221827.A00138R.jpg)
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America, spreading democracy ::)
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That's before the Taliban took over :-\
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Rambo Helped the Taliban in Part 3 to uprise against the Russians
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Opiates and Oil is serious business
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Ahmed should tell us how much better it is, especially for women.
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Opiates and Oil is serious business
lithium
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(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=461593.0;attach=507174)
wiggs with a beard showing solidarity with the taliban.
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(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=461593.0;attach=507174)
wiggs with a beard showing solidarity with the taliban.
For the sake of children, please don't fight. May I suggest a rap battle or dance off to settle disputes.
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For the sake of children, please don't fight. May I suggest a rap battle or dance off to settle disputes.
lol
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Oh yea.
Kabul -79. Never forget.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/4khdgw.jpg)
(http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/c100.0.403.403/p403x403/531928_526828364015371_1950324256_n.jpg)
HAHAHA ;D
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ISLAM is a curse that will eventually destroy any culture that embraces it.
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Solid thread.
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Just a picture of Ronald Reagan meeting with Muslim Extremists/Terrorists/Taliban/Afghan Mujahideen-Operation Cyclone. At the White House of all places.
Imagine if anyone did that now. Reagan was garbage.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Reagan_meets_Afghan_Mujahideen.jpg)
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Religion is a curse that will eventually destroy any culture that embraces it.
I refined your statement.
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ISLAM is a curse that will eventually destroy any culture that embraces it.
Would you fuck off with this nonsense.
Fundamentalist cause fucking problems, whether they're christian, muslim, a liberal, conservative, libertarian, anarchist, passivist etc etc.
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Afpigistan has been a garbage dump for 500 years and will still be a garbage dump 500 years from now.
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Bryan Woodman: But what do you need a financial advisor for? Twenty years ago you had the highest Gross National Product in the world, now you're tied with Albania. Your second largest export is secondhand goods, closely followed by dates, which you're losing five cents a pound on... You know what the business community thinks of you? They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other's heads off and that's where you'll be in another hundred years, so, yes, on behalf of my firm, I accept your money.
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Would you fuck off with this nonsense.
Fundamentalist cause fucking problems, whether they're christian, muslim, a liberal, conservative, libertarian, anarchist, passivist etc etc.
You are just Naive, ISLAM is different from other religions.
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So modern.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1326063/After-1700-years-Buddhas-fall-to-Taliban-dynamite.html
THE world's two largest standing Buddhas - one of them 165ft high - were blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan at the weekend.
A Buddha of Bamiyan statue stands over 150 feet high above a small town situated at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan, prior to its destruction
After failing to destroy the 1,700-year-old sandstone statues of Buddha with anti-aircraft and tank fire, the Taliban brought a lorryload of dynamite from Kabul. A Western observer said: "They drilled holes into the torsos of the two statues and then placed dynamite charges inside the holes to blow them up."
The operation to wreck the statues carved into a cliff in the Bamiyan Valley in the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan was supervised by Mullah Obaidullah, the Taliban defence minister. There has been an international outcry since Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, issued a special edict on Feb 26 ordering the destruction of all non-Islamic statues.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, had pleaded with the Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, in Islamabad yesterday to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage. He was told that all other "moveable statues" - including more than a dozen smaller Buddha statues in the Kabul Museum - had also been destroyed.
Mr Annan, who spent half an hour with Mullah Wakil during the first leg of his South Asia tour, showed dismay and frustration while talking to reporters. He said: "They will be doing themselves a great deal of disservice and no religious leaders from the Islamic world have supported the edict. I told them you have to respect what is sacred to others."
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They were faceless but even more powerful: I was awestruck 04 Mar 2001
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Treasures survived centuries of war 12 Mar 2001
Mr Annan added that it was "not going to be easier now to raise money" from the international community for the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan. More than one million people have been displaced by the fighting and drought. But, no government has told me categorically that they would not help the desperate people of Afghanistan."
Mullah Wakil said the work of destroying the Bamiyan cliff statues had started already, "but they are very tough ones".But his mention of steel rods and cement walls which were erected in the 1930s to bolster the back of the standing Buddhas and which are now exposed made it clear that the frontal part of the statues had been blown up.
Mullah Wakil insisted that the edict was an internal matter for Afghanistan and had been "excessively exagerrated in the outside world and the media". He said the Taliban had no intention to disrespect any other religion. "We do admit the relics were the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, but the part that contradicts our Islamic beliefs we would not like to have them any more."
Mullah Wakil said the edict had been under discussion by the Taliban authorities for more than a year and did not permit the removal of the statues to other countries - which Japan, India and New York's Metropolitan Museum had offered to do. He said the Taliban would rebuild the Kabul Museum to show off the remaining historical objects, which do not represent living things, which are forbidden according to the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islam.
The destruction of the statues is almost certain to lead to even greater condemnation and the isolation of the Taliban by the international community. In January, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the Taliban.
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Bryan Woodman: But what do you need a financial advisor for? Twenty years ago you had the highest Gross National Product in the world, now you're tied with Albania. Your second largest export is secondhand goods, closely followed by dates, which you're losing five cents a pound on... You know what the business community thinks of you? They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other's heads off and that's where you'll be in another hundred years, so, yes, on behalf of my firm, I accept your money.
Syriana?
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That's before the Taliban took over :-\
No...its before it was fucked over by various superpowers.
More pictures http://www.retronaut.com/2010/10/once-upon-a-time-in-afghanistan/
In the power vacuums that are left, extremists fill the gap.
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Afghanistan... the graveyard of empires...
I'd only add that prior to 1978, Afghanistan had a good number of significant wars. Back around 1842, the British suffered their biggest massacre in history.
The Russians failed in their attempts, while back then having some of the most sophisticated weapons of their time.
The USA can't even claim victory, because it hasn't accomplished anything substantial there.
It is literally like a black hole for military conquests. You go in and never come out the same...
"1"
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America, spreading democracy ::)
americants poison everything
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americants poison everything
get an umbrella
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It's no coincidence that this nation collapsed into the grasp of aggressive and toxic capitalism at the same time Arnold was given the O that he didn't earn in 1980.
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America, spreading death ::)
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It's no coincidence that this nation collapsed into the grasp of aggressive and toxic capitalism at the same time Arnold was given the O that he didn't earn in 1980.
..about as much coincidence as Tbombz flying into town the same weekend as the big deep tissue massage convention
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..about as much coincidence as Tbombz flying into town the same weekend as the big deep tissue massage convention
2/10
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the russians had the weapons,but not the funds.
read a book about it just few days ago 8)
Soviets.
Large part of the men fighting in Afghanistan, besides officers, were from other Soviet republics than Russian SFSR.
I once had an honor to talk with Estonian man who was here working as construction man. He said he served in Afghanistan back in the day.
Soviet challenges in Afghanistan were due to that military was for decades built to roll over Europe in battlefields full of tactical nukes and massive armored columns.
As is known, Afghanistan was very different. And still is.
Their fighters hide in mountains in small groups with light equipment and high mobility. Difficult to eliminate them with military tactics designed against an organized opponent.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/28wgcqo.jpg)
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2v9f3m0.jpg)
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cossacks.
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Someone mentioned the late Buddha statues of Afghanistan.
Said statues back when they were still in one piece :)
(http://wallpaperswa.com/thumbnails/detail/20120914/aircraft%20helicopters%20soviet%20afghanistan%20buddha%20grayscale%20statues%20monochrome%20vehicles%20mi17%202098x2_wallpaperswa.com_10.jpg)
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Russia have big role behind Taliban movement.afghan youth was given scholarships to study in Russian universities.they created afghan ruling class in Russian universities with communist ideas.Net result.... these new afghan ruling communists was fucking their own sisters and mothers in the name of communism.under communist influence they believe there is no.... God.... means no relative ties imposed by religious scriptures we all just men and women.this one extreme pave the way for other extremism called Taliban.
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its crazy how that country used to be a place for hippies as well. from the sun in the darkness. very sad.
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ooops, sorry i didnt mean that time of soviets, i meant during the csar times.will give you the date later, gotta look it up.
Oh you mean "The Great Game" times?
"The Great Game was a term for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game
Russian Bear and British Lion back in the day ;D
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/As_Between_Friends_(Punch_magazine,_13_December_1911,_detail).jpg)
(http://www.afghanistan-photos.com/crbst_sher_20ali_20khan2.jpg)
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In the 60's hippies could-and would-hire camper vans and drive all the way from Europe,through Iran,Afghanistan and Pakistan, into India.
Afghanistan was the major source of the world's hashish supply.And the hippies would take Afghan marijuana seeds back with them to the Netherlands and California,giving rise to modern cannabis culture.
Kabul was considered more laid back than its neighbour Pakistan. For rich Pakistanis it was party central.And they would let their hair down by travelling there over the weekend.
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In the 60's hippies could-and would-hire camper vans and drive all the way from Europe,through Iran,Afghanistan and Pakistan, into India.
Afghanistan was the major source of the world's hashish supply.And the hippies would take Afghan marijuana seeds back with them to the Netherlands and California,giving rise to modern cannabis culture.
Kabul was considered more laid back than its neighbour Pakistan. For rich Pakistanis it was party central.And they would let their hair down by travelling there over the weekend.
nice
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Just a picture of Ronald Reagan meeting with Muslim Extremists/Terrorists/Taliban/Afghan Mujahideen-Operation Cyclone. At the White House of all places.
Imagine if anyone did that now. Reagan was garbage.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Reagan_meets_Afghan_Mujahideen.jpg)
"The enemy of our enemy is our friend"...some politicians still make that mistake in 2013...
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Ghengis Khan was successful in Afganistan. He was the only one. He didn't fuck around with bullshit counter insurgency, nation building, and winning hearts and minds. He killed everyone taller than a wagon wheel.
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Ghengis Khan was successful in Afganistan. He was the only one. He didn't fuck around with bullshit counter insurgency, nation building, and winning hearts and minds. He killed everyone taller than a wagon wheel.
All of Ghengis khan,s decedents became Muslims within 30 year of his death.they are the one who mass murder Muslims at least few millions of them.does not make any sense.great Musilm Mughal empire In India was formed by Genghis khan decedent Taimoor lang.