Isn't That Going To Be The Final Outcome?

Well, finally a socialist had the nerve to come out and say it: Let's all root for the Taliban

Posted: August 24, 2009, 11:25 PM by Jonathan Kay

In case some of you missed your latest web issue of The Socialist Worker, please check out this charming article entitled "Should the Left Call for Taliban Victory?" — a question the author answers with a resounding yes.

Here's the money quote: "The Taliban, as a broad-based movement of poor farmers and lower clergy, is the face of anti-imperialist resistance in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. To put it another way, if we, as avowed anti-imperialists, intend to wait around for a resistance movement that agrees with us on every issue, including the need to fight the oppression of women, gays, racial and religious minorities, etc., we'll be waiting a long time. The Taliban is the resistance in Afghanistan and we must support it, critically, but unreservedly."

I love the way author dismisses such fundamental issues of human rights as "the oppression of women, gays, racial and religious minorities" with the wave of his hand. Indeed, he can't even be bothered to list them all, but simply ends his catalog of Taliban shortcomings with an "etc," as if the exercise were an unnecessary and tedious distraction. Who has time for such boring miscellany when there's "anti-imperialist resistance" (aka suicide bombings) to be cheered on?

Raphael Alexander: Pakistan's anti-Taliban tactics need to follow the money

Posted: August 24, 2009, 4:30 PM by NP Editor

When you fight terrorists for 25 years, you’re bound to pick up a few tips. The recent bloody conclusion to the Tamil Tiger insurgency in Sri Lanka has led other countries to take notice of Colombo's success.

Pakistan, which is facing its own insurgency from the Taliban, has asked the Sri Lankan army to help train Pakistan’s military to combat it. The Army intends to send military cadets to the island nation to train in counter-insurgency operations:

Click here to read more...