The Taliban literary means ''students''. In the present context these students are the product of religious schools called ''madrasa''. They were instrumental in overthrowing the warlords of Afghanistan post Soviet Union's departure from Afghanistan. The vast majority of the Taliban belong to the Pashton tribes of the region. A fearlessly independent people known for their code of conduct called Pakhtunwali. The main features being courage (tora), revenge (badal), hospitality (melmestia), generosity and part of the hospitality code is the giving of asylum including to an enemy.
The background is important to understand how these people went from the above to becoming an instrument in the hands of the puppet masters of the new big game. To further complicate the issue the region which traditionally was dominated by the moderate interpretation of Islam has been hijacked by the wahabi/salafi interpretation through systematic infiltrations of the madrasas since the time of the Soviet invasion in the late seventies. And it is their Pakhtunwali that has been used against them as an instrument of exploiting them. Thousands of foreign fighters were sent to the region and embedded among them by exploiting their hospitality, to the point that many settled in the region permanently through establishing roots by marriage. This in no way exonerates them from the reign of terror unleashed by them as a result but it does help us understand them. Nevertheless their region happens to be a perfect terrain for a sanctuary for foreigners, which has been used to great effect to launch attacks on the various governments of the region and beyond.
How do they fit into the ''war on terror'', the big pink elephant in the room is the Pakistan Nukes, since the late eighties the equation of the region was turned on its head, when it became clear that Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons. Pakistan finally detonated nuclear devices in response to India's public show of the same in the late nineties. Since then there are elements in the West and the neighboring countries who are hell bent on getting rid of the sole Islamic Nukes, the pansies in all this are the Taliban and their convenient guests the Al Queda. The gambit in all this is the fact that the sect leaders/clerics of the Taliban are playing a double game, a triple game if you include duping their own followers, while they are happy to accept help from there ''let's use them to get rid of the nukes group'', they are also in bed with some Middle East leaders who are secretly hoping to grab the nukes instead of getting rid of them. The clerics/sect leaders are happy going forward since this route is the only hope they have of ever elevating themselves from being employed by the emperor to actually be emperors. The victims in all this are the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
To make matters worse an insurance policy has been taken out by the clerics, a movement was initiate by the parties involved minus the ''let’s get rid of the nukes brigade'', this movement has less to do with military strategy and more to do with social engineering with an aim to try grabbing the reins of power from within and bypassing the voted to power impossibility in their case as things stand now. The target of this social engineering has been the middle class of Muslims in the Middle East and Asia in general and the focus on the middle class of Pakistan and the Taliban of the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The first step of this phenomena, the regimentation and ''identify yourself soldier'' is good as done, Hijab and beard is the new uniform of Muslim youths. The first stage of the next step, a call to war has already started, the enemy as far as the Pakistani/Afghanistan youth is concerned is the West and anybody else the clerics choose to demonize and associate with the primary enemy The West.
The duping of the young middle class is nothing new all over the world; this one just has a distinct religious flavor to it. And it is this disturbing aspect of the big game that is both a source of concern for both Muslims and others, at the same time a source of the comic in all this. The threat as perceived by both the religious right and the anti-religion sections of the West is threatening their ''way of life''. The resulting umbrella damage is being borne by all Muslims all over the world. The Taliban in essence is a side show but a perfect distraction from the main objective, the dislodging of the Islamic Bomb.
The background is important to understand how these people went from the above to becoming an instrument in the hands of the puppet masters of the new big game. To further complicate the issue the region which traditionally was dominated by the moderate interpretation of Islam has been hijacked by the wahabi/salafi interpretation through systematic infiltrations of the madrasas since the time of the Soviet invasion in the late seventies. And it is their Pakhtunwali that has been used against them as an instrument of exploiting them. Thousands of foreign fighters were sent to the region and embedded among them by exploiting their hospitality, to the point that many settled in the region permanently through establishing roots by marriage. This in no way exonerates them from the reign of terror unleashed by them as a result but it does help us understand them. Nevertheless their region happens to be a perfect terrain for a sanctuary for foreigners, which has been used to great effect to launch attacks on the various governments of the region and beyond.
How do they fit into the ''war on terror'', the big pink elephant in the room is the Pakistan Nukes, since the late eighties the equation of the region was turned on its head, when it became clear that Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons. Pakistan finally detonated nuclear devices in response to India's public show of the same in the late nineties. Since then there are elements in the West and the neighboring countries who are hell bent on getting rid of the sole Islamic Nukes, the pansies in all this are the Taliban and their convenient guests the Al Queda. The gambit in all this is the fact that the sect leaders/clerics of the Taliban are playing a double game, a triple game if you include duping their own followers, while they are happy to accept help from there ''let's use them to get rid of the nukes group'', they are also in bed with some Middle East leaders who are secretly hoping to grab the nukes instead of getting rid of them. The clerics/sect leaders are happy going forward since this route is the only hope they have of ever elevating themselves from being employed by the emperor to actually be emperors. The victims in all this are the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
To make matters worse an insurance policy has been taken out by the clerics, a movement was initiate by the parties involved minus the ''let’s get rid of the nukes brigade'', this movement has less to do with military strategy and more to do with social engineering with an aim to try grabbing the reins of power from within and bypassing the voted to power impossibility in their case as things stand now. The target of this social engineering has been the middle class of Muslims in the Middle East and Asia in general and the focus on the middle class of Pakistan and the Taliban of the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The first step of this phenomena, the regimentation and ''identify yourself soldier'' is good as done, Hijab and beard is the new uniform of Muslim youths. The first stage of the next step, a call to war has already started, the enemy as far as the Pakistani/Afghanistan youth is concerned is the West and anybody else the clerics choose to demonize and associate with the primary enemy The West.
The duping of the young middle class is nothing new all over the world; this one just has a distinct religious flavor to it. And it is this disturbing aspect of the big game that is both a source of concern for both Muslims and others, at the same time a source of the comic in all this. The threat as perceived by both the religious right and the anti-religion sections of the West is threatening their ''way of life''. The resulting umbrella damage is being borne by all Muslims all over the world. The Taliban in essence is a side show but a perfect distraction from the main objective, the dislodging of the Islamic Bomb.
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