Afghanistan today

[Barbara]

Best picture with a voice recording of the Amir of Afghanistan. Listen to the energetic voice !

I would copy the pic but it's a 1 minute video

https://x.com/SirajHaqqaniFan/status/20 ... 4195768675

[Barbara]

"Commitment to preserving independence — Afghanistan’s Minister of Defense,
Mawlawi Muhammad Yaqub Mujahid"

https://x.com/sHaidarHashmi/status/2048427098407153927

[Barbara]

This is a Greek poster on X who writes about ancient coins.

In this post, Herakles Citharede refers to the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian Kingdom which sprang up c. 256 BC - 120 AD. This occurred a number of decades after Alexander the Great's conquests of parts of Central Asia, when a local Seleucid satrap Diodotus I seceded.

"Renowned for its "thousand cities," it blended Greek and local cultures, producing advanced, highly regarded coinage that serves as the primary source for its history"


"At the crossroads of trade routes linking East and West, ancient Afghanistan, or Bactria, drew its prosperity from lapis lazuli, highly prized in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but above all from agriculture.

Thanks to the rivers born of the Hindu Kush mountains, narrow fertile strips stretched out, cultivated and developed since the Bronze Age over hundreds of kilometers.

There one found a large population, herds, an excellent cavalry, grains, fruits, vegetables, a few lush gardens, and welcome shade in the midst of an arid environment."

https://x.com/HeraklesCithare/status/20 ... 2338439512

image.png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 59 times

[Barbara]

[Same clip is on the Russia -US thread]
1st 50 seconds gives a slightly different perspective on American strategy in countering the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan 1979-89.

Most people wouldn't think that the creation of al-Qaeda was this central to the anti-Soviet war effort as portrayed in the clip. That group was only officially founded in 1988 or 9, when the Red Army was already about to leave Afghanistan.

Thus al-Qaeda appeared to be more an adjunct thought up at the last minute by American strategists.

But perhaps plans for it were active well in advance.

The speaker does explain well that the Saudis colluded with the US -- or else agreed to the US plan to arm and fund primarily the most fundamentalist factions [pro-Saudi, Wahhabi and radical groups< explains why the Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received the lion's share of the funding & materiel out of the 7 main parties of fighters.
Moderate Sufis, by contrast, got only a few leftovers and discards - DESPITE the fact that these 3 parties were quite pro-Western !
They didn't fit into the grand plan and thus were deliberately sidelined.]

The main conclusion one gains is that these arrangements for distribution of weapons and supplies and money were NOT at the whim of the Pakistani military intelligence agency, ISI, as most people always assumed at the time and afterwards, too -- with Washington being lax in monitoring where the dollars sent were spent by Islamabad.

But it sounds now like the ISI was merely following American orders. After all that speculation, apparently the Pakistani military intelligence agency made little or no decisions. It was not that Gulbuddin was THEIR favorite, but now we know that this hardliner, disliked by all Afghans for his arrogance, was actively the choice of Washington policy makers.

https://x.com/ivan_8848/status/2051801194729791711

[Barbara]

Footage in clip

"A new drone from Afghanistan has been dispatched towards Lahore for surveillance purposes."

https://x.com/Abdale313/status/2051946886148280383

[Barbara]

They are VERY TALENTED at ANYTHING they do - see clip of skater on patrol in a city, probably the capital

"Training as intense and advanced as Afghanistan’s may not be achieved by Pakistan even in ten years."

https://x.com/Abdale313/status/2052229433717608581

[Barbara]

Afghan Army Cat trains - I told you they are skilled

https://x.com/CatFlixer/status/2052463478976463142