The only success in afghanistan, if we want to talk in those terms, has been that afghanistan's exports to the rest of the world have shot up from about 24 % of the world market to 90%. And that is the poppy heroine in opium. So this is the benefit which the united states and its native allies, who, instead of stopping this trade, basically encouraged in. The comparison with china, of course, is very striking. Who are the chinese? Have built these cities. They've got quite an astonishing infrastructa now on on many levels. Until now, the government is safe. You know, it's not an unpopular government in ch
Legendary socialist scholar Tariq Ali on the long history of Afghanistan: the 19th and early 20th-century wars against the British Empire; the communist coup, Soviet invasion, and US-backed mujahideen war; the rise of the Taliban; and the 2001 US-led NATO invasion through the recent US defeat and withdrawal. Plus, a lot about Pakistan.
Pre-order Ali's forthcoming book The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold versobooks.com/books/3939-the-forty-year-war-in-afghanistan
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