ISIS and Afghan Taliban

[Tuuvi]

Didn't the Taliban once say that ISIS were too extreme for them?
I remember Jon Stewart joked about it.

Either way I'm not surprised that ISIS is pretty much incapable of having allies, it seems that you either join them or you are an enemy.

They've been fighting with the other Jihadist factions in Syria as well. It's interesting that they've been able to be so successful with so many enemies on all sides.

Pretty f***ed up lately, even more so than a while ago, what with Turkey and their little war against the Kurds.
They could make it really difficult for ISIS but since they are enemies with the Kurds too, they rather not weaken them too much.

The Syrian Kurds seem to be committed to establishing a democratic government and I really hope Turkey will leave the YPG alone but since they follow the same ideology as the PKK they probably won't. In fact it's been reported (but take it with a grain of salt) that Turkey has fired on the YPG while they were engaged with ISIS. The YPG also claims that three of its fighters were deported while in the middle of receiving medical treatment in Turkey and instead of being sent to the Kurdish controlled border crossing they were to deported to one controlled by Jihadists and taken prisoner.

Meanwhile Turkey has been accused of aiding ISIS by letting ISIS recruits freely cross the border into Syria and not really doing much to combat ISIS. I know the PKK are considered a terrorist organization and it's not all black and white but still I'd rather have libertarian socialists on my border than Islamic fascists. I guess Turkey disagrees.

[rory_20_uk]

The worst thing the West EVER did was to get directly involved in these psuedo-religious wars be that in Africa, the Middle East or Central Asia. We end us spending a fortune, everyone hates us and we get blamed for not creating a New Switzerland.

Left to their own devices they'll happily slaughter each other and even attract disaffected extremists from the West to go over as well.

Provide if anything low tech weaponry to whichever side is loosing and leave them to it. That the Taliban and ISIS are now killing each other is just another example of this which stretches over a large chunk of the countries where Islam is the dominant religion which is a religion of peace and tolerance of course.

[rajpoot]

The worst thing the West EVER did was to get directly involved in these psuedo-religious wars be that in Africa, the Middle East or Central Asia. We end us spending a fortune, everyone hates us and we get blamed for not creating a New Switzerland.

Left to their own devices they'll happily slaughter each other and even attract disaffected extremists from the West to go over as well.

Provide if anything low tech weaponry to whichever side is loosing and leave them to it. That the Taliban and ISIS are now killing each other is just another example of this which stretches over a large chunk of the countries where Islam is the dominant religion which is a religion of peace and tolerance of course.

Problem is that the West is already too involved to make a clean exit. If not directly through 'allies'. And some of those allies might be supporting one or the other or as it seems right now, both groups, with 'aid' they might well be getting from the West.

[Shaka_Khan]

Looks like another

[Furunculus]

well done, taliban.

[spmetla]

Gotta say, the collapse in Afghanistan is happening far faster than I'd ever imagined. I've never been confident in the Afghan National Army (ANA) but their abandoning major cities like Herat and Ghazni without much of a fight is worrisome. They can't just hold Kabul and hope to win.
Terrible knowing that tomorrow morning I'll likely read about Kandahar having fallen already based on the videos I saw of ANA vehicles just barreling out of the city to flee.

[Crandar]

Gotta say, the collapse in Afghanistan is happening far faster than I'd ever imagined. I've never been confident in the Afghan National Army (ANA) but their abandoning major cities like Herat and Ghazni without much of a fight is worrisome. They can't just hold Kabul and hope to win.
Terrible knowing that tomorrow morning I'll likely read about Kandahar having fallen already based on the videos I saw of ANA vehicles just barreling out of the city to flee.

Already taken, I'm afraid. Not a fan of the warlords' kleptocracy, but Afghanistan's feature looks even bleaker now. I don't think the internationally recognized government has any hope of keeping Kabul, to be honest. Morale is around zero and the soldiers simply surrender or just desert. The Taliban will probably face regional uprisings, but only after their opponent has collapsed. Only a major foreign intervention can save it, but so far the priority seems to be just the evacuation. ANA desintegrated super quickly and in stark contrast to the Democratic Republic, which actually survived the USSR and crushed the Mujaheddin in Jalalabad.