The Graveyard of Empires

 This is the name often given to Afghanistan.  Major empires from the Greek to the British to the Russian to the American have run up against indigenous opposition.  Kandahar, which just fell to the Taliban, was laid out in part by Alexander the Great, but the Greeks didn’t stay long.   (Say Alexander and Kandahar together a few times.)  Obviously these people know how to fight.

Which means, to me, they don’t want to fight the Taliban.  Think about the training, the latest weaponry, the air support.  As one provincial capital after another falls, there is almost no fighting.  Few deaths or casualties from a battle.  That means the American-trained Afghan army has no interest in fighting.  

While I feel bad for the women of Afghanistan (and why were’t they trained?), it is obvious that another four or eight years would not have made a difference if twenty years didn’t make a difference.

Imagine if the Afghans were Kurds and the Taliban tried to take over their territory.  Do you think we’d be hearing about provincial capitals falling?