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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (59787)	7/30/2009 11:27:04 AM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

I know a few Afghan nationals. The Taliban along with Al-Qaeda were viewed as benevolent liberators only a few decades ago. Prior to the Taliban becoming the ruling government in 1996, the population suffered from the most brutal corruption from powerful bandit war lords who engaged each other in constant warfare and who reeked havoc on travelers and villagers. Mullah Omar organized a group of fundamental Sunni Muslims to rid the country of this corruption. They began by defeating the War Lords one, then another. Soon the population began to support their saviors and almost overnight the Taliban obtained its governing rule. The Madrasahs (schools) were the primary vehicle for recruitment and education on Mullah Omar’s fundamental program. They even banned the production of opium poppies. Not since Alexander the great had anyone been able to control this region and nearly every world power had tried. The radical interpretation of Islam combined with an ethnically Pushtun leadership required strict adherence to the fundamental program. Soon the restrictions became oppressive for anyone not willing to submit to the ideology, attacks on civilians became common, with raping and massacring becoming the identity now associated with the Taliban. The rest we all know well via Western media. The Afghan people, in general, seem very receptive to a Government that rules with the well being of the population as its primary agenda. They also know about becoming powerful enough to conquer and control each other. Training them up, at least on its own, may not be a viable solution in the long run. Education is a start but believing in the process of democracy could take three or more generations once it is established, if it is doable at all.