Was invading Afghanistan a crime?

@MarkPaul You might want to brush up on international law.

And 20 years of war didn't do the locals any favor Mr. Kipling.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow The locals were introduced to western freedom that you take for granted. I would say that was a favour. And, in case you don't have access to basic history books, the world was literally being threatened by terrorists being trained and fomented in Afghanistan.

@MarkPaul Bullshit. They were introduced to western weapons and bombs. I don't care about your moralistic fantasy.

Destroying a country and trying to turn it into a colony is not a favor.

Again, bullshit. The Taliban offered to turn Bin Laden over to a third party for trial as a criminal. The Taliban made the mistake of thinking the US would follow diplomatic norms like a serious country. Not carry out an invasion for political cache like a rogue nation.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Look, I don't expect you to understand the intricate details and nuances of international affairs. And, so I get why you clutch on to these simplistic schemes that has all sides retreating to their own corners to engage in refreshments, pinkies up, and delightful banter. Too bad the world and human nature, of which I know quite a lot about, doesn't conform to your ideal. Imagine if it did.

That being said, you don't really seem to understand or care to acknowledge the tone, tenor, and timbre of what it must have been like to have trained terrorists running around the globe free and clear. You have consider the underlying causes of the entering Afghanistan in the first place.

The USA and Allies basically gave Afghan women, in particular, an alternative way to live. If that wasn't desirable, you wouldn't see so many of them clamoring to be taken out now that the way of life they were granted for 20 years is about to crumble into dust.

As for your love of the Taliban, I will admit I just don't get it. It's even harder to understand than your admiration for Putin.

@MarkPaul I do just fine. You are just repeating bullshit propaganda from 2001. None of it is based on reality and is just to give Americans warm fuzzies so they don't have to think about the reality of the situation. Because that might be awkward.


Again more propaganda and fear mongering. That has nothing to do with it. You are inventing a false pretext that was bullshit 20 years ago and is still bullshit. You don't even have the basic facts right.



Again more PR bullshit. The US tried to carve out a colony and failed. Full stop.



And now personal attacks because you can't win on the facts. Predictable.


You are a garden variety imperialist and war monger.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I just think some good was done by giving a backward society a chance, if they wanted it, to enter the modern world. And, that wasn't even the mission. So, this purity test of yours doesn't make sense to me.

@MarkPaul Spoken like an imperialist with a white savior complex. It is racist and just disgusting.

White Man's Burden rephrased and nothing more.

I am sorry you feel threatened by the facts and have to pivot to a racist, imperialist narrative.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Yeah, but I'm none of those things. I certainly don't believe in war. And, while I admit there was a time when imperialism made sense to create a world order, so to speak, and offered many benefits, we are long past that time. Finally, to suggest Afghanistan is part of the undeveloped world is hardly racist. It's just an honest assessment. Or, do you actually believe women should be treated with disdain and spit?

@MarkPaul Your words prove you are. And now doubling down on your racist stereotypes. Good job.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow So, what do you call your promotion of the Taliban practise of treating women with disdain and spit? For once, answer the question, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel.

@MarkPaul Lol. The best you can do is "how often do you beat your wife." You are a joke.

I don't answer irrelevant questions that are just personal attacks.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow So, once again...

1. You praise the Taliban (when you are not praising Putin).
2. You don't answer the question put to you (to avoid feeling uncomfortable).
3. You criticise me for personally attacking you while you practise behaviour of personal attacks on me.

@MarkPaul 1. That is a total lie and just a personal attack not worth aknowledging.


2. I don't respond to lies


3. And calling a racist imperialist a racist imperialist is a statement of fact.

You don't want to be called that, try not behaving like one.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow So, you want to classify Afghanistan as a forward-thinking, advanced nation-state? And, to you that would qualify as not be a "racist imperialist?" Again, I don't expect you to understand the delicate nuances of international affairs; I have taken an entire class on this. But, I DO expect a bit more academic rigor from you.

@MarkPaul A country is not a monolith you half wit. Afghanistan was very much striving towards that till the US destroyed it in the 70s and 80s over ideology.

You assessment of the country is a racist stereotype to justify your white savior fantasy which you use to justify imperialism.


This has nothing to do with nuance. You have no idea what you are talking about and no better than clowns like Nick Fuentes and other "Western Chauvanists."


Being a racist hack is not academic.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow The Afghans never would never have been able to do that on their own. After all, western democracy and the ideal of freedom did not develop within the shores of any single nation. And, as much as you want to dismiss it, it started with the British Empire and yes, nation-building. Again, that time has past, but I'm fairly well convinced you would not want to live in a world that had not been influenced by western European expansion that was brought to the shores of North America.

@MarkPaul Again more white savior racist bullshit. Infantilizing an entire nation.

Just another racist idiot trying to hide behind pseudo intellectualism.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I fear you don't have the capacity to publish an honest assessment because you favour the theory of "political correctness" above all else. And, that's why your tirades don't cut ice. You are too heavily biased beyond any reasonable or responsible degree.

@MarkPaul I know exactly what you are. A garden variety racist with a white savior complex and an imperialist hiding behind pseudo intellectually BS.

This is not complicated. This also has nothing to do with political correctness. A tactic of racist idiots and right wing extremists everywhere.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow OMG. I'm not right wing. I'm not racist. And, I don't promote an imperialist agenda. I also am not beholden to talking points. My assessment of Afghanistan is sound. Oh... and I don't have a white man's burden complex.

@MarkPaul Sorry but your words and positions say you are. I don't care how you feel about it.

And your entire argument here was apologetics for empire. 2 empires in fact.

And your entire position is a white savior complex.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow *sigh* Do you see the problem we have here? Somewhere along the line you have taken on the role of an apologist for the modern world. It's as though you are pretending to be a substitute teacher with all the bluster of an authoritarian, but none of the wits to see you through the role you have self-assigned.

In the situation here, if I can direct your ADHD to the topic at hand, you act as the fill-in spokesman for Afghanistan society without even understanding the hell they are are living through now and did before they were basically invited in by the world. You conveniently ignore the desperation and speak poetically about leaving them to their own devices. You do realize they are not some museum exhibit designed for your amusement and education? Please say you do realize that.

@MarkPaul More distraction and bullshit.

More insults.


Try again.

And the lack of self awareness is astonishing. You are the one infantilizing an entire nation.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow You are like the parent of a troubled student who refuses to see his child being a source of the problem. It's impossible to break your fantasy of being so right to see you don't know what you are talking about. I can't even keep you on topic.

@MarkPaul This describes you in a nutshell.


"We did not understand the tribal dynamics, we never did. We think everybody wants what we have. It’s cultural obtuseness, obliviousness to their reality."

Michael Zacchea Lt. Col of the USMC (Ret).