Is communism behind radical Islam?

[Al Mumtahanah]

After the Soviet Invasion, Afghanistan degenerated into something like Mad Max, full of drug lords and boy slaves, warlordism and anarchy. A group of students banned together to restore safety and order. They were called the Taliban.

[East African Unitary State]

dumbest thing we could have done honestly. Reagan should have let Afghanistan remain under soviet rule.

How about no?

I don't believe in morality by hindsight in foreign policy regards.

Afghanistan was technically better, or at least improving, when it was under Communist regime rather than its previous government, and definitely better, when it was not ruled by the Taliban. But yeah, there's no way US regime would know that supporting one particular insurgency would blow up in their face. It's the cold war after all, every insurgency was bankrolled to be terrorist one way or another.

[Thermodolia]

Millions of Iraqis and Afghans wouldn’t have died either. I never would have had to go to Afghanistan. I never would have had to lose some of my friends.

So ya I see no issues with letting the Soviets bleed themselves out in Afghanistan. We never should have supported the Mujahideen just like we never should have supported the rebels in Syria

The taliban was just as worse if not worse than the Soviets. They brutally murdered millions and rape thousands

Taliban are horrific yes.

I feel the Soviets would have been worse though, at least before Gorbachev, there may jhave been a genocide.

Again, you can't judge in hindsight.

I can definitely judge in hindsight. Reagan and co fucked the nation in more ways than one.

If he didn’t fund the Mujahideen we never would have gone to war in two different middle eastern nations. We never would have had to worry about ISIS. Thousands of priceless artifacts would still exist. Not to mention that you have 10s of thousands of Americans still alive.

To me that’s worth leaving Afghanistan to the Soviets. It wasn’t our war

[Hurdergaryp]

…The Soviets have a higher kill count than the Taliban, mate.

Overall yes. In Afghanistan? Hardly

Besides I’d rather have a brutal communist regime than a brutal theocratic regime.

For most of us prefer modernist harshness over the ancient sadism of religious insanity.

[Thermodolia]

How about no?

I don't believe in morality by hindsight in foreign policy regards.

Afghanistan was technically better, or at least improving, when it was under Communist regime rather than its previous government, and definitely better, when it was not ruled by the Taliban. But yeah, there's no way US regime would know that supporting one particular insurgency would blow up in their face. It's the cold war after all, every insurgency was bankrolled to be terrorist one way or another.

We could have not trusted the fucking Saudis. They where pushing for our support

[Heloin]

After the Soviet Invasion, Afghanistan degenerated into something like Mad Max, full of drug lords and boy slaves, warlordism and anarchy. A group of students banned together to restore safety and order. They were called the Taliban.

And it turned out they were complete shit and worse then the anarchy. Same thing happened in Somalia funnily enough.

[Highever]

After the Soviet Invasion, Afghanistan degenerated into something like Mad Max, full of drug lords and boy slaves, warlordism and anarchy. A group of students banned together to restore safety and order. They were called the Taliban.

And then they started beating women in the streets for not obeying their laws and started a reign of terror of their own.

[Minachia]

I think the rise of radical Islam during and after the Cold War was just a coincidence. It's more the fault of France and Britain because they carved up the Ottoman Empire in the most unnecessarily stupid way possible.

[The New California Republic]

No. Capitalism is behind radical Islam. Americans funded the Mujahideen and others to specifically combat Soviet influence in the Middle East. Plain and simple.

The dumbest thing we could have done honestly. Reagan should have let Afghanistan remain under soviet rule.

I mean, there is some truth to saying that modern radical Islam is the unwanted love (or should that be hate...?) child of the cold war clash of east and west.

[Al Mumtahanah]

After the Soviet Invasion, Afghanistan degenerated into something like Mad Max, full of drug lords and boy slaves, warlordism and anarchy. A group of students banned together to restore safety and order. They were called the Taliban.

And then they started beating women in the streets for not obeying their laws and started a reign of terror of their own.

Yes one to keep order. The Taliban had the opportunity to become the most powerful heroin cartel in the world. But they didn't, because they weren't pirates: instead they waged a jihad on drugs unlike any ever seen before, eradicatibg 3/4 of the global heroin trade in less than a year. That is because they fought for Allah (may He be exalted and glorified), not for themselves.

[Kowani]

Not as flawed as it seems you think it is.

1
2
3

So..yeah, it is.

1: Personal hindsight bias is not the same thing as historical hindsight bias. Don’t conflate ‘em, mate.
2. That only involves taking information that was not available at the time. If you use the information that was available at the time, and come to a different conclusion-that is perfectly valid.

[Hurdergaryp]

I think the rise of radical Islam during and after the Cold War was just a coincidence. It's more the fault of France and Britain because they carved up the Ottoman Empire in the most unnecessarily stupid way possible.

The roots go back to the 19th century, salafism is a product of the modern age.

[Heloin]

And then they started beating women in the streets for not obeying their laws and started a reign of terror of their own.

Yes one to keep order. The Taliban had the opportunity to become the most powerful heroin cartel in the world. But they didn't, because they weren't pirates: instead they waged a jihad on drugs unlike any ever seen before, eradicatibg 3/4 of the global heroin trade in less than a year. That is because they fought for Alkah (may He be exalted and glorified), not for themselves.

The Taliban are the most powerful heroin cartel on Earth though. They've always been a glorified heroin cartel with somehow even shittier ideas how to treat people then the normal ones.

[Highever]

And then they started beating women in the streets for not obeying their laws and started a reign of terror of their own.

Yes one to keep order. The Taliban had the opportunity to become the most powerful heroin cartel in the world. But they didn't, because they weren't pirates: instead they waged a jihad on drugs unlike any ever seen before, eradicatibg 3/4 of the global heroin trade in less than a year. That is because they fought for Allah (may He be exalted and glorified), not for themselves.

And Unit 731 made breakthroughs in vaccines and research into deadly disease. One decent thing ghat happened to come out of something shitty does not make it any less shitty.

[Hurdergaryp]

After the Soviet Invasion, Afghanistan degenerated into something like Mad Max, full of drug lords and boy slaves, warlordism and anarchy. A group of students banned together to restore safety and order. They were called the Taliban.

And it turned out they were complete shit and worse then the anarchy. Same thing happened in Somalia funnily enough.

When salafism takes over, brutality and wanton massacres soon follow. Islamic State most certainly wasn't the first to do so.

[Czechoslovakia and Zakarpattia]

Well, considering the fact radical Islam is virulently anti-egalitarian, anti-socialist, anti-western, and anti-secularist, I strongly doubt the USSR or the PRC would ever support organizations the likes of al-Qaeda or the Taliban, especially since all of them were virulently anti-Marxist and contravened the very thought foundation of Marxist thought , which clearly states:

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself."

Vladimir Lenin was also highly critical of religion, saying in his book Religion:

"Atheism is a natural and inseparable part of Marxism, of the theory and practice of scientific socialism."

In The Attitude of the Workers’ Party to Religion, he wrote:

"Religion is the opium of the people: this saying of Marx is the cornerstone of the entire ideology of Marxism about religion. All modern religions and churches, all and of every kind of religious organizations are always considered by Marxism as the organs of bourgeois reaction, used for the protection of the exploitation and the stupefaction of the working class."

[Kowani]

1: Personal hindsight bias is not the same thing as historical hindsight bias. Don’t conflate ‘em, mate.
2. That only involves taking information that was not available at the time. If you use the information that was available at the time, and come to a different conclusion-that is perfectly valid.

1: I'm talking historical so yes it is relevant.
2: Indeed, but I've studied that time somewhat for such counter-evidence and found no serious debate on it, there has to be more than minor concerns and a couple articles and debates for probability and the law of realism to occur.

You don’t just get to say “I’ve studied.” Show your work, mate.

[Al Mumtahanah]

Yes one to keep order. The Taliban had the opportunity to become the most powerful heroin cartel in the world. But they didn't, because they weren't pirates: instead they waged a jihad on drugs unlike any ever seen before, eradicatibg 3/4 of the global heroin trade in less than a year. That is because they fought for Alkah (may He be exalted and glorified), not for themselves.

The Taliban are the most powerful heroin cartel on Earth though. They've always been a glorified heroin cartel with somehow even shittier ideas how to treat people then the normal ones.

"In July 2000, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, collaborating with the UN to eradicate heroin production in Afghanistan, declared that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns. The Taliban enforced a ban on poppy farming via threats, forced eradication, and public punishment of transgressors. The result was a 99% reduction in the area of opium poppy farming in Taliban-controlled areas, roughly three quarters of the world's supply of heroin at the time.[19] The ban was effective only briefly due to the deposition of the Taliban in 2002."

[Risastorstein]

Radical Islam is the product of the US and their bestie Saudi Arabia. No need to seek further.

[Kowani]

You don’t just get to say “I’ve studied.” Show your work, mate.

I read sections of books, Diplomacy by Kissinger, Tragedy of Great Power Politics, and articles I don't remember the name of, and other sources.

I admit, one of my weaknesses is I study what it says but don't bookmark the source I need to start doing that it's a concern in debates.

Alright, that’s fair.

That’s what I use my phone’s reading list for.

[Highever]

The Taliban are the most powerful heroin cartel on Earth though. They've always been a glorified heroin cartel with somehow even shittier ideas how to treat people then the normal ones.

"In July 2000, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, collaborating with the UN to eradicate heroin production in Afghanistan, declared that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns. The Taliban enforced a ban on poppy farming via threats, forced eradication, and public punishment of transgressors. The result was a 99% reduction in the area of opium poppy farming in Taliban-controlled areas, roughly three quarters of the world's supply of heroin at the time.[19] The ban was effective only briefly due to the deposition of the Taliban in 2002."

But human trafficking, well that's okay though. So are massacre campaigns and the brutal oppression of women. But hey they got rid of heroin so just wave all of that away.

[Kowani]

Alright, that’s fair.

That’s what I use my phone’s reading list for.

That's why I try to save articles which titles interest me so I can cite the sources.
...Then I never read those articles.

I believe that defeats the purpose.

[Al Mumtahanah]

Bacha bāzī (Dari: بچه بازی‎, lit. "boy play"; from بچه bacheh, "boy", and بازی play, "game") is a slang term in Afghanistan for a wide variety of activities involving sexual relations between older men and younger adolescent men, or boys. The practitioner is commonly called bacha baz (meaning "boy play" in Dari) or simply bach. It may include to some extent sexual slavery and child prostitution.[1] Bacha Bazi is currently reported in various parts of Afghanistan.[2][3][4][5][6] Force and coercion are common, and security officials state they are unable to end such practices because many of the men involved in bacha bazi-related activities are powerful and well-armed warlords.[7][8][9]

A controversy arose after allegations surfaced that U.S. government forces in Afghanistan after the invasion of the country deliberately ignored bacha bazi.[13] The U.S. military justified this by claiming the abuse was largely the responsibility of the "local Afghan government."[14]

During the Afghan Civil War (1996–2001), bacha bazi carried the death penalty under Taliban law.[10]

[Kowani]

I believe that defeats the purpose.

Yeah...
See, I save like...5 articles a day....

I save articles that I use for sources for arguments. That way, I don’t have to go search for one on Google.

[Risastorstein]

Radical Islam is the product of the US and their bestie Saudi Arabia. No need to seek further.

More the Saudis and Iran. F*ck both their regimes.

Yet only one of them has international sanctions while the other freely finance Salafists mosques all over the world and has direct links with Al-Qaeda, the Talibans and ISIS. To be honest, Saudi Arabia is what ISIS would have looked like if it was a still around and an actual state.