America pulls their troops out of Afghanistan.
After 20 years of armed conflict with the Taliban and many people
are applauding the end to American interventionism in Afghanistan and
the end to what has seemed to be a pointless war with no clear objective,
no clear goal line and no, and insight.
Is everyone happy?
What about the Afghanis on the ground?
Who, whose lives are now in danger?
Are they happy also on today's episode, do gender pronouns got you down?
Did they leave you feeling confused and anxious, worried about whether you should
call an individual key she's eight or Zim?
Well, don't worry.
The infinite wisdom of Tik TOK is here to help.
Hey, it's Lucas Skrobot and you're listening to the Lucas Skrobot show
where we uncover purpose, pursued truth and own the future episode
248, July, July, August 11th, 2021.
And yes, indeed America is ending what will turn out to be a 20
year engagement in Afghanistan?
Uh, they will have all of their troops out.
President binds Biden says by August 31st, which is nearly 20 years to
the day of September 11th, 2001 which kicked off this, this 20 year war in
Afghanistan and tens of thousands.
Over a hundred thousands thousand lives lost in Afghanistan.
And many people think that this was just a bad deal from the get go.
Many people think that it's just interventionism America should have
stayed out that it was a costless war that lost thousands of human lives,
not just the 3000 plus American lives, but tens of thousands of Fontes and
Pakistanis were lost in this conflict.
Many things that it was a war without purpose, a war that was
fueled by an opioid crisis, a war that fueled the opioid crisis award
that was about drugs and money.
And it's true that Afghanistan provides 90% of the world's opium, but only 1%
of that actually ends up in America.
Most of the opium that, uh, and heroin that hits the streets in America is
coming from Latin America, but it's still a huge economic boon for the Taliban
that the use of opioids selling opioids, exporting them out of Afghanistan.
So there's some great arguments there.
Well, here, finally, America is pulling their troops out.
Now this is not something that was initiated by president Joe Biden.
So we can't throw all the blame on.
But we, we S we see this was award that was started by president Bush award.
That was escalated by president Obama award that, uh, president
Trump said, we are going to begin to withdraw out of Afghanistan.
And here is president Biden.
Finally closing the chapter on this 20 year book of history here, here he is at
a press conference, uh, on August 10th, addressing, uh, the nation about what his
opinions are about the ending of this war.
The last few days, multiple cities in Afghanistan have fallen to the Taliban.
There's irrefutable evidence that a vast majority of those Afghan
forces can not hold ground.
There has your current plan to withdraw us.
Troops changed at all.
We spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years.
We trained and equipped with modern equipment.
Over 300,000 Afghan forces and Afghan leaders have to come together.
We lost thousands, lost death and injury.
Thousands of American personnel.
They've got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.
The United States I'll insist.
We continue to keep the commitments we made, providing close air support,
making sure that there are air force functions and as operable Reese
resupplying their forces with food and equipment and pain, all their salaries,
but they've got to want to fight.
They have outnumber the Taliban and I'm getting daily brief.
I think there's still a possibility.
You have a significant new secretary of defense, our equivalent of secretary of
defense in Afghanistan, Bush Mala Khan.
Who's a serious fighter.
I think they're beginning to realize they've got to come together
politically at the top and we're going to continue to keep our commitment,
but I do not regret my decision.
Well, that's pretty clear.
I, I don't disagree with president Biden here, that the people they have,
Gany people they need to come together and decide to fight for their nation.
There's some things that are problematic in the beginning.
The question was, it's very clear that city after city Capitol city, I think
six different capital cities of the different states in Afghanistan has
fallen to the Taliban over the last week or two, six different capitals.
And many of these regions.
Have, and provinces have enormous amount of opium and poppies, which is going
to as a financial fuel to the Taliban.
The Taliban has taken over border entries, uh, across Iran, the
entries in and out in Iran and up into the north, even in Pakistan.
So the military advancement of the Taliban in just a few short days since
this announcement is quite staggering.
So the fact that the America, that, that president Joe Biden is saying, well,
we've, we've trained 300,000 troops and we're going to, can you just supply
them with equipment at salary and food?
That's good.
But at the same time we are or seen, uh, an increase in conflict
and that the Taliban is moving in.
Do.
Uh, to take that vacuum that is being left to fill that vacuum to speak that
is being left by the U S government.
Now over the last number of days, India has decided to evacuate diplomats
and their citizens from Mazar as Shareef consulate in Afghanistan,
because it's just not safe.
America has said that to the U S embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, they're urging
all Americans to leave the country, admit an increased and fighting.
And those who are Americans should not rely on us government
flights to exit the country.
They're saying, just get a plane on a plane and leave.
Uh, the Taliban have captured journalists have taken, uh, radio
managers who were supporting the U S forces in supporting the Afghani
government and has executed him.
So there is.
In the last week or two, there have been serious, serious loss of life and
risk to people who are on the ground who have supported the U S forces.
Well, here is a clip from ABC with former ambassador Ryan crocker talking about
the pro longed war and what we might see in the coming days in Afghanistan.
Hey, the prolonged civil war is a more likely outcome, frankly,
George than a swift Taliban takeover of the entire country.
They're being very smart about this.
They are, uh, not Jean major strikes into Cabo.
They are doing what they're parked to create a climate of fear and panic, and
they are succeeding wonderfully at this creating a climate of fear and panic.
Jonisha worry.
What does that mean for those left behind, particularly those
interpreters translators, others who helped America during this.
And this next, this next segment of the clip is an interpreter for the United
States who has been working with United States for I believe eight plus years.
All right.
Um, as we said before, it's all too late.
Uh, if we do not evacuate all those interpreters who are left behind
and the Taliban will kill everybody and they will torture them in front
of their family and kill them.
Um, I just heard a couple of news that when the Taliban, the controlled
couple of cities there were going and knocking door by door and asking for
those people who were supporting the us mission in Afghanistan, and it was.
Trying to kill them.
And, uh, yeah, it's already too late.
We have to do and evacuate those people before it's too late.
And, uh, as I said before, the Taliban or now like mash powerful and, and
controlling a lot of cities and these people are not safe anymore.
And Afghanistan, it's true.
These people are not safe anymore.
In Afghanistan.
They're going door to door, knocking on doors, saying, Hey,
do you, who do you know that has supported the U S mission and the
Afghan mission against the Taliban?
Send them out there.
There, their time has come.
Their time has come the level.
Benevolence and cruelty and repercussions that will come against
people who do not fall in line with the Taliban's agenda or who have
actively fought against the Taliban.
It will be merciless as we are seen by evidence of what we're already
seeing in the, in the short days, the short number of days, since
America has said that they will leave.
Well, I have some Afghani friends here in the region who some of them have
fled Afghanistan because their lives were threatened because their bombs
were going off next to their houses or their kids have PTSD from attacks.
They, they lost friends to the tolerance.
And so I reached out to them and I said, Hey, what, what do you
think about what's happening with the American troops pulling out?
What is your or opinion?
Because I could sit here and pontificate a my opinion.
We can look at experts across the globe and then history find out their opinion.
But what about the people who are on the ground?
Well, he said that for Afghanis, that flights are really borrowed
and closed, at least as some places, including the UAE right now.
So people are feeling stuck in the country.
People whose lives are in danger.
He said for, for minority populations, like Christians, that the U S troops
moving out will mean death for them.
The Taliban will find them.
They will hunt them down and they will face the penalty of death.
I asked him whether he thinks that this, that it was a
good idea in the first place.
And whether it's a good idea, if, uh, American troops pull out for the Afghan
people, he said, quote, I don't know.
After 20 years, we are back in the beginning, billions of dollars,
which is really $1 trillion just by the U S government.
Well, not only NATO and, and other countries were involved in this.
So over a trillion dollars spent hundreds of us lives wasted over 3000
us lives lost in this war and thousands, tens of thousands of Afghani lives,
tens of thousands of Pakistani lives.
I asked him then, do you think that the us should have gone in, in the first place?
He said, I don't know our government is, is correct.
And this operation has been sabotaged by Iran, by Pakistan, by China and by Russia.
So it is very hard to gauge on face value of whether it was a good idea
for the U S to enter in the first place or not because they were facing
not just the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they were backed by Pakistan.
And the Taliban really by some scholars have, has now been considered and is
considered to be a proxy, a military faction of Afghanistan to do forward
that Pakistani agenda in the region.
So there were faced other political parties, such as Iran as well,
supporting and, and deterring the U S activity, uh, enough Coniston
for, for better, for worse.
So it's hard to say of whether or not.
The U S should have gone in or not in the first place.
And this is from him, his perspective.
And then the final question I asked him was, is Afghanistan better or worse
with the U S entering after 20 years?
Do you see this being better or worse?
Obviously from his previous statement is, I don't know.
We're now back to where we were 21 years ago.
It's 20 years where it seems like all the gains have been instantly lost, but he
did say U S has invested in education, women, humans, rights, media, freedom,
infrastructure, and healthcare that America didn't just come in with bombs
and tanks and airstrikes, which they did, which civilian's lives were lost in
the war, but they also came in and they invested in education, invested in women.
They invested in children, they invested in freedom of communication and democracy.
And I know it's so weird that democracy gets this bad rap.
And what's strange is it gets the bad rap by people who are
normally Ultrapro democracy.
They're like democracy is great, but it's not for everyone.
And I do agree in an extent that a pure democracy isn't that great.
Even in America, we have a Republic, uh, which is quite different.
And I also agree that some nations just aren't ruled by a democracy and that
doesn't make them wrong, but, but here in Afghanistan, they have at least seen.
And when we look and we're going to look at the history of what led
up Panasonic up to the point of a U S invasion in 2001 briefly.
But we've seen that the, the, the us forces being in there actually
created a space for a low level of freedom and Liberty that they had
not experienced in at least decades, a decade, decade, two decades, plus.
So there are S there are positives that came out of that invasion,
but th that may have been lost.
Now, obviously the U S can't stay indefinitely in Afghanistan
and never intended to stay indefinitely in Afghanistan.
As we mentioned already earlier, this engagement was started by Bush.
It was increased by president Obama.
President Trump was the one that say, Hey, we're going to end up pulling out
where it's starting plans to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan and here Biden
is now finally pulling out the troops.
Now it seems to me that interventionism is a double edged sword.
It is a damned if you do damned, if you don't, you can't win for losing.
If you don't do something in a situation like this as being what
a lot of people deem the, you know, the super power of the world.
And a lot of people say, well, you're the ones fighting for Liberty.
This is your promise.
You, you want to see justice, but you should intervene because you are the
one saying that you want to help people.
And so if people are asking for help, you should help people who are suffering.
And if you don't, you're, you're evil for not helping, but if
you do, or how about this?
And if you don't.
Your enemy can grow stronger and stronger and it can actually lead to more and
more atrocities by not intervening early.
It can often lead to worse atrocities and genocide and
the loss of thousands of lives.
It's not just an elusive, elusive, uh, consequences, the real consequences.
But if you do help, you're then accused of interventionism.
You're accused of not minding your own business.
You're accused of meddling in other people's free society, which that's
a valid argument in many cases.
And when you finally do leave, you're then accused of either leaving too soon,
not leaving soon enough, leaving the wrong way, leaving a power vacuum, which
then leads to greater evils wickedness.
As we saw in, uh, Iraq with the rise of ISIS.
America pulled out.
It left a power gap in ISIS, rose up now again with Iraq as well.
There's the question of should America even a gone in, in the first place?
Uh, when I talked to my, my sources who, who describe what was happening
before America went into to pull out Saddam Hussein, they talk about Saddam
Hussein saying that they'd met with them.
The leaders were talking with him and many people were say that Saddam was changing.
That him as a strong man was, was beginning to soften in his
later years, whether that is a hundred percent true or not.
I don't know, but this is what I've been told by people that I know
and trust and their people were advising the administration don't
go in, it will leave a power gap.
And we don't know what will fill that.
Well, now we do know what filled that power gap in Iraq, and it was ISIS.
Think of that, the damage the trustees, the ISIS did after the us pulled out
of Iraq, which then was a result of the pulling out the strong man, which was
holding a power balance in the region.
What will happen now in Afghanistan?
Well, here is, uh, corresponded with, uh, the DW news from out of Germany.
Uh, Ali Latifi, uh, a journalist correspondent in Afghanistan.
I think the people of line has done.
They knew that.
I mean, the writing was on the wall that this, you know, intro that this
invasion, whatever you want to call, it was gonna end at some point.
And ever since Trump, it was very obvious that it was going to happen fairly soon.
But what frustrates the Avalon people is not necessarily, you know,
they were saying, if you're going to go, go, just tell us when, but
more than anything, don't leave without some kind of conditions.
You know, there are no conditions on the Taliban.
There are no conditions on the government.
There is no real, you know, impetus to, for either side to go and seriously
take on the peace talks and Doha.
Right now, there is no impetus on the toilet bowl and for any kind of
a ceasefire or reduction in violence.
The fact that they just said we're leaving with no restrictions with
no, um, with w w with no conditions.
That's, what's upsetting, I've on people, more than anything,
leaving with no conditions.
That is a problem.
And, and it seems as with a war like this it's and maybe, maybe, obviously I'm
sure the us government and the General's involvement in the Afghan military and
government, I'm sure they had goalposts.
They had KPIs.
I'm sure they had landmarks.
I'm sure they had strategy.
I'm sure.
Right.
They had goals that they knew that they needed to meet in order and objectives.
They wanted to fulfill in order for them to be able to pull out.
So I don't have intimate knowledge of that.
Um, I'm, I'm sure that people much smarter than I was working on this problem.
Uh, but it doesn't seem that there were a lot of conditions or stipulations
in this withdrawing from Afghanistan.
And it does seem that the Taliban is quickly gaining.
This is what pres former president George W.
Bush had to say about, uh, the fact of the withdrawal from Afghanistan
and in an interview with DW progress that could be made for young
girls and women in Afghanistan.
It's unbelievable how that society changed from the brutality of the Taliban.
And now all of a sudden, you know, sadly, uh, I'm afraid I Afghan women and
girls are gonna suffer unspeakable harm.
This is a mistake.
So withdrawal.
I, you know, I think it is.
Yeah, I think because I think the consequences are
gonna be unbelievably bad.
The consequences are going to be unbelievably bad.
And whether we agree or disagree with former president bushes,
uh, Activity in the region.
Uh, and whether those will stand the test of time is being something that was
on the right or wrong side of history.
That's not for us to, to look into today, but I do think he's correct in
that the way that we have withdrawn the American military is withdrawn seems
to, to leave this vacuum where the people who were suffering, our women,
our children, our interpreters, who, who have helped, even though there's a
way out for interpreters, but clearly there are going to be people who aided
the, the us operation and aided the current Afghani, military and government
that will, will suffer consequences under, uh, under the Taliban's rule.
If they do.
Whether swiftly or in a long drawn out war ended up winning what might
turn into as a former ambassador.
Ryan crocker told us earlier in this show, A long and drawn out civil war.
Well, here is back to, uh, Ali.
Latifi his thoughts on, uh, the operation in the first place and how damaging
this 20 year war was and the real toll that took on the Afghani people.
I think it's very interesting that he's suddenly, you know, concerned about women
and children because you know, his war may by, he he's talking about president Bush.
Oh, okay.
His war made a lot of widows and made a lot of children orphaned.
Do you know what?
There was a lot of, you know, there, there was, there was one dish and
there's been a ton of Mo there was imprisonments, there was night razors,
drone strikes, there's airstrikes.
There was all kinds of things that if he's concerned about civilians,
he should have thought about during his own administration.
This is true.
He does have a point here that.
The loss of life over this 20 years is staggering expecially.
When it's, it's framed in the light that all of these gains could, could
have just been lost in three weeks time that 20 years of work can and lives can
disappear in eight, a months time here is a chart that was put together by BBC of
the number of lives that have been lost, uh, in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the
conflict since 2001 20 years, it shows the U S allies and troops killed 3,586
military and police killed in combined from Afghanistan and Pakistan, 75,971.
The number of civilians killed in the last 20 years from this conflict, 78,314,
and the opposition fighters or the Taliban incorporated 84,191 that is over
200,000 lives lost in the last 20 years.
And if all of these lives are lost for nothing, and that really does seem
like a waste, it really does seem like it was all for nothing, that this was
just a big waste of lives, that this was a completely failed operation.
And that the pulling out makes all of these lives for not the pulling out, makes
all of these people who suffer before and the suffering going on for nothing.
Well, it's important to look quickly and we're going to scream over this really
fast, uh, at the history of what led up to Afghanistan, being in this place.
And we have to go back to really back to 1978 and even a little bit before to
understand, and w the lead up to what has happened in Afghanistan that caused,
uh, America to enter in the first place.
Now, Afghanistan has been a, a, a nation of warring peoples and
warring tribes for hundreds of years.
And so I I've been talking to other people, some, some friends and colleagues.
About how really it was somewhat a fool's errand for America to enter into
Afghanistan because they are people who are willing to sit and wait for
decades for the right moment to strike.
There are people who, who make their bread and butter off of fighting and off of war.
They are a, a strong, durable, mountainous people who, who pride
themselves on courage and bravery.
And so it's somewhat of a fool's errand for America to enter into
Afghanistan in the first place.
And we look back to 1978, where Russia tried the same thing and they
failed for an entire decade, 11 years.
Russia was.
And, and the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which started in April of 1978 with the
establishment of the people's democratic party of Afghanistan, where they overthrew
the government in a bloody coup killed all of the family members of the, the sitting
president, um, Mohammed do OD killed his family and they took over, which was
come to be known as the SWOT revolution.
And so once the PD PA or the people's democratic party, if Afghanistan
came into power, what did they do?
Will they begin to implement a liberal and Marxist Lenin agenda when Leninist agenda.
In here is a mixed bag.
First it moved to replace religious traditions and traditional laws with
secular and Marxist-Leninist ones.
Men were obliged to cut their hair and women could not wear a chador or a buy-up,
uh, and MOS were placed off limits.
So here we see, you know, the liberating socialism Marxist communist party come in.
And what do they say?
They forced just meant to cut their beards.
I think something like that is happening right now with the leader.
People they're being forced to cut their beards.
They're not able to practice their religion.
No freedom of religion and, and women were not allowed to cover their heads.
A full-on stamping out of their freedoms.
The PD PA also made a number of reforms, which really seem to be positive
when it comes to women's rights.
And women's reforms such as banning forced marriages, um, giving state recognition
to women's right to vote and, uh, and, and giving education and equality of
education to women, job security, health services, and making sure that they had
the ability to raise their families.
Right.
So there are positive things that the, the socialist Marxist worked to do
in educating women during this time.
But the also pushed state atheism and, and work to just full on outlaw Islam.
Now, the USSR.
Also sent in contractors to build roads, infrastructure, hospitals,
and schools to drill well water.
And they also trained and equipped the Ethicon military.
This sounds familiar.
This is what the United States also tried to do.
The obviously United States did not, uh, closed down Moss, but they did,
uh, work to bring in more education for children, girls women's rights and built
infrastructure and train the military.
Well, Russia was not successful in their operation now at the same time
crusher and the PD, I guess I should say the PDPA, not necessarily Russia,
but the PDPA, which was backed and funded by the Marxist Leninist USSR.
Beat tortured, murdered thousands of members of traditional elite,
religious religious establishment, and the intelligentsia.
The government launched a campaign of violent repression killing
some 10,000 to 27,000 people and imprisoning another 14 to 20,000 more.
The repression plunged large parts of the country, especially rural areas into
open revolts against the new Marxist.
Lenin is government.
And by 1979, unrest had reached 24 out of the 28 Afghan provinces because
everyone was uniting under Islam against these communist communist rule and,
and the communist, uh, enforcement of ha having non-religion of people
not being able to worship their God in the way that they wanted to.
Well, other atrocities that happened in this time, some scholars believe that
the Afghans were victims of genocide by the Soviet union Soviet forces in their
proxies killed approximately 562,000, between 562,000 and 2 million African,
the Russian soldiers also we'll engage in abductions and rapes of Afghan women.
Some statistics say about 6 million people fled off, gone as refugees to Pakistan
and Iran where there are over 38,013.
Yeah.
Thousand made it to the United States in many more to the European union.
So it wasn't all sunshine.
Under the USSR, they did push some reforms, but they also
seem to have pushed a genocide.
Now it was because of mounting pressure and resistance against the, the Marxist
Leninist communist party in Afghanistan.
That that finally fell in 1989, which that led to a civil war that took place
between 92 in 96 were where people were military parties were fighting
for power to really reconstitute and reestablish a unity among Afghanistan.
Well, this resulted in the Taliban coming to party in 1996.
Now Taliban means to students.
Taleb is students.
Bond is two.
So Taliban actually just means to students, uh, and it was from a, it sprung
out of a religious school in Pakistan.
With Afghani refugees in Pakistan.
Now, as I said earlier, some believed that really the patella bond became a proxy
or an extension of the Pakistani army into Afghanistan as there was a lot of
international interference in that time, uh, in Afghanistan, between 92 and 96.
Well, it was finally, as I said, we're screaming through this, um, history
because it really does lead to an idea of what was happening in the country
before America stepped in, in 2001.
And it gives us a clearer picture of, of a conflict that has continued to happen.
Uh, Are there with continual civil war war for, for decades now?
Well, it was in 96 that the Taliban with the military support of Pakistan and
the financial support of, uh, Osama bin Laden prepared for another major offense
against my sued, who was ruling and leading really the military leader over
Afghanistan and over Kaboodle back in 96.
Well, in September of 96, Massud he ordered the retreat from Kabul and
the Taliban set up control in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan in 1996.
And they established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which this is
important for some of the clips that we're about to play, to understand
what was happening back in 1996.
Well, the imposed on parts of Afghanistan under their control.
Their their political power and their interpretation of Islam.
We issued edicts forbidding women from working outside the home, forbidding
women and children to attend schools, uh, or leaving the home unless they
were accompanied by a male relative.
One of, uh, physicians for the human's rights said that no other reason,
gene in the world has methodically and violently enforced half of its
population into virtual house arrest by prohibiting them with the punishment
of pain and physical violence.
Now, there was one man, as I mentioned before, uh, SaaS sued, who was the, the
ruling military leader who then retreated from Kabul that was with standing
and fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan for, for a number of years.
Uh, the national geographic did a documentary on it called
titled inside the Taliban.
And they said that the only thing standing in the way of the Taliban mosque
massacres that were happening was Massoud.
So he was an influential leader.
He was a political and military leader that was fighting for Afghani people who
were being massacred at that time, by the Taliban fighting for women's rights,
fighting for a young girl to have the right, to be educated women, to be able
to work, to be able to leave the house.
And he resisted and resisted.
Now, the Taliban tried to bribe him and said, Hey, join our side.
We'll make you prime minister.
We'll give you everything you need and everything you want per Massud said,
there's no way because your principles.
Your values can completely contradict mine.
I could never, I could never give myself to that.
And, but, but he still believed that and he hoped that they could, he could
establish principles of democracy and he wanted to convince the Taliban to
join into a political process that could lead towards free elections
and to democracy in the future.
Well, what happened on September 9th, September 9th, 2001, two days
before September 11th and the attack on the twin towers in America,
two days before that Massoud was assassinated by two suicide bombers,
suicide tackers inside of Afghanistan.
So here we have the one force that is really holding back the toddler.
Gets assassinated two days before September 11th and
then September 11th happens.
Of course, as we all know.
And at that point, they, they recognize that that operation was
led and taking responsibility for by Haida, Aida, which just means the
base, the base was in Afghanistan under the Taliban's protection.
And so the United States thought that it was a good idea to enter and to
push back the Taliban to secure its position against the war on terror.
And the rest is history as you know, the last 20 years of war in Afghanistan and,
uh, and even Iraq in the middle east.
So that was a brief history, which shows us two things.
One.
Afghanistan has known decades of war decades of atrocity and
genocide, uh, by multiple parties.
And as I said, it seems to be a fool's errand for America to try to
enter possibly second us engaging in Afghanistan did push the Taliban back
for time, but did retake a lot of land.
They did establish a level of freedom, but it leads to the question of
what might we see and what might Afghanistan see in the coming futures?
Well, here is a clip from the BBC.
We actually have two clips from the BBC of them interviewing
Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
At the moment, are you preparing for peace or are you preparing for more war
peace?
We are most . For the past hired fight, you've not been
fighting against the Americans.
You've been fighting against other off guns, other Muslims.
Uh, the problem is with the government system, two new RG hot
until they accept our demands.
Nah.
How about money?
The thought about things see themselves as just a rebel group, but as a government
in waiting and that's true, they don't see themselves as a rebel group.
They see themselves as the rightful government in Afghanistan.
And as they said, we are, we are ready for peace, but if we don't get
our demands, if we don't get what we want, we will continue our war.
We will continue our fight until we establish what an Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan and Islamic state and Emirate is just a state
Islamic state of Afghanistan.
That is their goal.
And they said, we're not tired of fighting and we're going to continue to fight
until we establish our vision, our goal.
So the question is, has the Taliban, how have they changed since 1996?
When they, when they put atrocious?
Uh, I don't even want to say laws, but just regulations and, and
forcing women to stay in doors.
Forcing kids, young girls did not have access to education.
It have, have they changed?
Does, does the Taliban have a new face?
Well, luckily for us, the BBC asked that exact question.
Lots of people I speak to, they fear the Taliban coming into power
because they think they'll see a repeat of what happened in the 1990s.
Do you think that you did things wrong back then and
would things be different now?
The Taliban before and the telephone now are the same.
Not about that, but there were some changes, of course, in personnel.
Some people are for sure.
And some people Carl calmer, I mean, that's not very encouraging.
It's like, well, I mean the taller bond is the same Taliban, same,
same Taliban from 30 years ago.
And, uh, those really haven't changed.
Of course, personnel has changed.
Some people are harsher and some people are calmer.
In other words, nothing has changed our, our goals, our vision of the future.
It is the same.
So the sense of fear that people are feeling, it's real, the consequences
that people are facing right now in Afghanistan, uh, with the, the vacuum
of power it's real president Biden, he is also correct in saying that.
The Afghan government needs to needs to come together and fight because
many of these cities have fallen without a fight to the Taliban.
Many of these capital cities, they've just fallen without a
fight and they've all retreated.
Uh, the Afghani military has all retreated, which
at the same time is going to leave an impact on many lives who are now going to.
Who have sided with the Afghan government who are now under Taliban rule?
Well, what about the legacy?
What legacy will be left?
Well, here is the last clip that we have for the segment from
Ali Latif as for the legacy.
I mean, the fact that we're having these questions is a legacy, right?
The fact that the Taliban is still able to pose a threat to, to, to the
government and to the security forces.
Uh, the fact that we're still having these battles and the fact
that we're still asking what might happen to women, to children, to
interpreters, you know, 20 years down the line, that is the legacy, it's it?
You know, what really was achieved before.
So asking these questions 20 years later, that's a great question.
What was achieved if we're still asking these questions, what is
achieved if 20 years later, uh, we, we, we end in operation the
Americans and in operation and it just goes straight back to how it was.
You'd have to say then that nothing was achieved, that the pulling out just
caused a great loss, a great loss of life.
Uh, and we will see in the coming weeks and months, what is achieved,
what remains and if anything ends up passing through this fire, so to speak,
to have any sort of positive impact in, in that region moving forward.
Yeah, that makes sense.
A part of the show where, uh, in a post-truth world in a post-truth society
where we have exchanged the truth for a lie reason for postmodern irrationality,
the absurd finally make sense.
Well, if gender pronouns have got you down, if you feeling confused and
wondering, am I, should I, should I.
Say something different to the store clerk.
Should I use they all the time or are they going to be offended?
I mean, I remember one time I was walking through a mall in the states, uh, I think
it was like, I don't know what store was.
And I was asking for a certain section, maybe slippers or something.
I don't remember.
And there was a person behind the counter and I said, excuse me, sir.
And this individual turned around and, uh, the, the glare that
I received from calling him a syrup was, uh, it was like ice.
It was daggers.
Pouring through my soul because of this, it definitely looked like it was
a, he, that was trying to look like a sheen and I must have used the wrong
pronouns, um, in my embarrassment.
Uh, and in light of their daggers, I just kept going on.
Uh, Bolivia's acting like, uh, I didn't notice that the person wanted to kill me.
Uh, and I just kept on with the same, sir, but it would have been
so great if there was some sort of marker or identifier that was on this
individual, on this person to know.
They, he, or she really wanted to be addressed by, well, don't worry.
Tik TOK has solved all of our problems.
I just made pronoun bracelets.
And I would like to explain them this one stands for he him.
So green and blue, more masculine colors.
This one stands for she, her so pink and purple, more feminine color.
And then this one stands for de them and it's yellow and orange,
which are like gender neutral color.
Hold up.
I thought that the whole idea behind this movement was that it is sexist to say
that blue and green is a masculine color.
Right.
Because the whole idea is there is, there is no such thing
as masculine and feminine.
And, uh, so the fact that.
Um, well, we'll have to see, I don't know what bracelet she's wearing right now.
So, uh, they, since she's holding a, a yellow bracelet, um, since they are
saying that, uh, that the different colors are, are coinciding with, uh, normative
gender roles, I'm deeply offended.
I mean, cause you know what I actually liked, I liked some peaks,
you know, at a nice pink shirt or a nice purple uh, a pocket square
that those are very masculine to me.
So off the top, I'm just offended by this.
Uh, so I, man, so offended and I wear this one.
Uh, it means that I just go by that, but I wear these two
together means I go by she them.
Okay.
So, so here's, you're showing multiple bracelets of different colors.
And so when she wears dual bracelets, she goes by.
Know, multiple pronouns where these together, it means I go by
he then when I wear all of them, it means that I go by all pronouns.
And when I wear these together, it means that I go by which wait.
So maybe I'm not getting the, the, the, I have not read the deeper
literature on these pronouns.
I've not educated myself in the appropriate manner, but it's quite
confusing to me, uh, that someone would want to be referred to as she
him or, or her, her, him, her, he, uh, at the same, I guess, because you're
non-binary but then why would you want to be referred to two different
binary pronouns at the same time?
Uh, anyways, this goes on.
She him, I'm gonna wear them all right now because I go by all pronouns right now.
My pronoun like preference has changed three times today.
This does not happen very often with me, but I'm wearing all three right now.
Um, did you catch this?
Did you catch it?
I'll pronounce right now?
My pronoun like preference has changed three times today.
My pronoun preference has changed three times today, I guess.
I mean, it's true, right?
Gender fluidity.
If, if we're embracing gender fluidity, but man, if, if someone's identity
like this used to be called something, this used, this used to have a name and
it was multiple personality disorder.
If someone's, if someone's identity is changing multiple times
throughout the day, That, that sounds like it's, uh, a serious issue.
This is not something that's just merely laughable, but it seems like there are, I
mean, this used to be called a real issue.
This used to be called a problem.
And now it's celebrated.
Now it's celebrated as, as liberation from, from normative patriarchal,
oppressive ideology that has been spurred on by a white supremacy
colonialism to, to, to destroy the power of the trans enlightened divine ones.
When really it's, it's someone who is manifesting multiple personalities,
multiple identities in a day.
That is, that sounds like a disorder to me and a few years.
It was widely accepted as you need help.
Not, you should be celebrated, not, you should be on a stage.
Not not, we should push this on a generation.
What, what sort of damaging effects will this have?
And now I'm going to throw this into a hard reverse right here and say,
it's really not a laughing matter.
It's really one where I want to use empathy and say, how can we get
kids like this minors like this?
How can we get them help?
How can we, how can parents begin to address these problems before they explode
into, to such life altering decisions?
Because these kids are making life altering decisions and they're
being supported by the school, the school systems and in the way.
Not just America, all of Europe, all of Canada, and it, and it's
growing in other places across the subcontinent sub-continent and it's
growing across the global south.
The school systems will not stop this.
The gender reassignment centers are not going to stop this.
They're going to encourage it.
The only place that can be stopped is if, if it stopped in the home
where parents are attentive enough and compassionate enough to stop
and say, why, why is it that you're feeling such turmoil within yourself?
Why is it that you're feeling such a visceral hatred towards your physical
appearance or different parts of your body that you want to try to
erase something on your physical appearance that you're going through
to such lengths that's so oppressive.
What is the underlying root cause?
And we need to, we need to empathy, use empathy and
compassion for those individuals.
While at the same time, we need to utterly, utterly reject the
celebration of this ideology.
We need to utterly reject the, the further, uh, proper propagating of this
thought system of this worldview and celebrating it as something that's normal.
Two things can be done at one time.
We can say, we're not going to accept this as normality and we're going to
do what is truly compassionate and help people find the right healing
from these deeper under blind issues.
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We will be right back with our closing Weaver and loom.
Second,
welcome back to Weaver, loom a part of the show where we take ancient wisdom
and we weave it in with our everyday lives that we can own our future.
And we've our destinies.
Today.
We actually have a two for two short, short, but powerful quotes.
If you today, the first one is by Tolstoy.
He writes, let us forgive each other only then will we live in peace?
And this is true.
It is.
It is the power of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the only way that we can live in peace when
we are surrounded by conflict.
When we are surrounded with, with pain and hurts and wounds, the only way to
live in peace, even with ourselves.
In, in our interior world, the only way to live in peace is through forgiveness.
Even if the other person doesn't want to forgive you, you can at least live in
peace by truly releasing and forgiving the other person, forgiving their debt.
Because the only person that is being held captive by our unforgiveness is ourselves.
We are putting ourselves in a cage and we are drinking the poison
of bitterness day in and day out.
We think that when we hold onto anger and bitterness and unforgiveness, we
think that we're hurting the other person that somehow we're getting vengeance
against the other person, but we are the one that's drinking the poison
and expecting someone else to die.
Forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the path and is the key to freedom that we will at least
live in peace within ourselves.
And if it can happen mutually, we can live in peace among one another.
But what happens when it doesn't happen mutually?
Like we're witnessing in Afghanistan right now.
There's not peace and there's not forgiveness.
Or what happens when you see an ideology like transgenderism push there.
They're not wanting to live in peace.
They want to transform and totally rewrite reality and bend reality.
According to their vision.
It's not something you of libertarianism.
It's not something that says let's all, you know, I'm going to do my thing.
You do your thing.
It is saying you all must conform to my thing.
If not, if you disagree with me and it's a hate crime, well, what do we do then?
When we might be willing to forgive, we might be willing to find that common
goal, but the other side wants for, well, that brings us to our next quote in war.
Then let your great objective be victory, not lengthy campaigns at
sun Tzu from the art of war in war, then let your great objective be
victory, not lengthy campaigns.
And we saw in Afghanistan lengthy campaign of 20 years now in the,
in a span of wars, there've been wars that lasted a hundred years.
Men and women, men would go to war every season, every year.
It's the season of war men get out and go to war every year.
So the 20 years in the grand scheme of history is not a forever war, but
it was definitely a lengthy campaign.
And we definitely look at the, the end of it and say that we have not obtained.
That the Afghani government has not obtained victory and that felt
entire legacy really could be lost.
And just a matter of, of, of weeks or months erasing all the work that
many people have, have strived to do over the course of 20 years.
And when we look at the other areas in life, I would ask ourselves, are
we, are we just engaged in lengthy campaigns of, of just spinning the wheel?
If you will, we're not acting actually moving anything forward.
We're not actually focused on the objective that will bring victory.
They'll say this is when this ends.
And so for bringing it back to weave it into our personal lives, instead of just
living your life with lengthy campaigns, just things that go on forever and never
end where you never quite know if you have had victory or not and whatever
area that you are warring for a victory.
And instead focus on an objective victory, something that you can measure.
And don't worry about this lengthy campaigns, but
instead work to be victorious.
Well, I thank you for being here and listening to this show.
Uh, it's the best part of my week.
Being able to spend it with you.
And one way that you can get more value from the show is by sharing it with your
friends and you know what, you don't even have to share the actual episode
with your friends, but definitely share these ideas with your spouse,
with your kids, with your coworkers, because it's, as we bring it up.
These ideas as we bring up these, these topics that we grappled with here on
the show, we build a stronger culture.
We cause people to ask questions and the intern ask us questions
and is through asking questions.
We're able to see and think more clearly.
And it's the asking of this questions that pursuing of truth, not to just endless
the ask questions, but to find truth.
That is what opens the door for us to understand who we are,
our purpose and own our futures.