200 military aircraft left in Afghanistan- bigger air force than Spain..., page-105

thanks. I have been thinking over night and wondered if in fact one paragraph in that piece might give some insight. That maybe you are right and others are right

the talib did exist and I think that Churchill’s work suggests that while they might have been religious students as the name suggests they were also a distinct enough group involved in fighting to warrant mention. That’s not actually inconsistent so far.

but as you suggest the modern politically motivated Taliban came out of Pakistan using the name and its associations to create a certain brand.

well there is no doubt that the branding worked I guess since many welcomed them thinking they would save the country from the corruption and mess that existed at the time.

as to my point - well you had challenged the commentary that Churchill had written about the talib (“an” simply being the plural suffix). So I provided you the extract. It might have been instructive for you to read the whole thing though

churchill knew what others seemed to grasp - Afghanistan had long been a complex mess of rivalries with wave after wave of interference from others because of where it sits

I was briefly involved with afghani in melbourne as the result of what was initially accidental interaction and then support for the afghan women’s association (RAWA). This group worked out of Pakistan as well (Afghani refugees) and so I got their view of the Afghan history. I also got an insight into the way tribal affiliations continued to play out. My view is that as westerners sitting in our own countries with only that which we choose to read with all its distortion and interpretation we cannot even start to understand the place.