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Originally Posted by aceventura3
I am willing to live in peace with those who respect the right of me and others to practice the religion of their choice, or practice no religion. I will not live in a world bound by Sharia Law. And because I want that freedom, I feel obligated to come to the defense of those who want the same freedom. It doesn't matter if they live next door to me , on the other side of the globe, or in the ME. If the Taliban respects this, there is no conflict. Period, end of story, but they don't.
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If you're out to defend "freedom" (meaning your own subjective interpretation of freedom shaped at least in some part by American societal rules), there are places a lot less free than Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a paradise compared to some places on our planet. Darfur, Burma, Somolia... shoot, even North Korea is likely less free than Afghanistan. And don't get me started on how the US invading Afghanistan helped to keep the Taliban in power.
If your position is that you want to attack anyone that makes people less free, that's a formidable list, a list in which we couldn't make a dent in 100 years.
All of this is moot, though. We are in Afghanistan because we wanted to get Osama Bin Laden, and when we invaded the Taliban and militant insurgents engaged us. It doesn't have anything to do with freedom. It still doesn't. In 4-8 years, we'll pull out of Afghanistan just like we're pulling out of Iraq, just like the Soviet Union pulled out a generation before. Just like the next sucker to invade will have to pull out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aceventura3
If, I get your point - that its o.k. for the Taliban to force some people to live under a law that restricts their right to religious choice as long as it is not the west, I think you are wrong.
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There's no need for strawmen. It's not okay, but there are certain things that are beyond our ability AND there are better ways to go about assisting progressive change. We, the US, likely don't have the military ability to defeat the Taliban, and our presence increases their recruitment. Eventually, either we'll elect an even more liberal leader or we'll wipe out the people of Afghanistan. We support progressive change by being smart. We support progressive imams. We support women's organizations. We cut off the opium trade by suggesting to our allies that legalizing and taxing opium in Asia will do more to damage the Taliban than a million bombs. There are a thousand more ideas like this, waiting in the wings.
I want a free Afghanistan. I want the Taliban to be disbanded. We won't be able to do that until we stop pretending that our presence will lead to it.