It is a form of government. It's a very ancient and actually quite stable, if rather primitive form of government that's been in place in Afghanistan for probably thousands of years. Tribalism is a valid form of government, if that's what the people want. Democracy ain't all that, you know. Even our founding documents recognize that it is the will of the People that is important, and if they want to live in a tribal culture, it's their absolute right to live in a tribal culture.mistermack wrote:I would stay off Afghanistan if I were you.
There is no better example on Earth of a country where everyone is armed and willing and able to take on the government. And look at the result.
The plethora of weapons is the reason that a democratic government can't hang on to power.
That means that the will of the people means NOTHING.
And you just end up with loads of warlords, which you seem to view as some form of government.
The facts are against you there. The only examples of that form of government are Afghanistan and Somalia. Neither have much to recommend them.
That's why I object to being in Afghanistan one second longer than it takes to kill off the Al Quaeda operatives responsible for 9/11.
If they want to live under Taliban rule, then they have a right to choose to live under Taliban rule. If they don't want to live under Taliban rule, then it's up to THEM to toss the Taliban under the bus.
My preferred intervention in such situations is to air-drop thousands of pallets of individual arms and ammunition to every backwater goat-herder and village in the country so that they can fight it out for themselves. The problem, as always, with despotic regimes, including Afghanistan and Venezuela under Chaves (and every other banana republic dictatorship in South America) has never been too many guns, it's been not enough guns in the hands of ordinary citizens, which gives them the chance to constitute the society and government as they see fit, rather than as some armed despot or military dictator sees fit.
You grossly misunderstand the situation in both Afghanistan and Somalia. It is NOT TRUE that everyone is armed in either place. If the occupants of the refugee camps in Somalia and Kenya were all armed, the Islamofascist rebel forces wouldn't have a chance. It's precisely because the average civilian does NOT have arms that the Islamic militants are able to control them unopposed. The same is true in Afghanistan to a lesser degree.
The problem in both Somalia and Afghanistan is not too many arms, it's too few arms and cultures which do not value democracy or individual rights. You too easily place the blame on weapons when it's actually cultural influences that have the largest effect on whether people live in freedom or slavery.
Afghanistan is a primitive, tribal culture. They do not have advanced democratic thinking as a core value of their society or culture. This is very likely a self-reinforcing loop of primitivism and lack of advanced technology and infrastructure that makes a primitive tribal system far more useful and stable than a nation-wide democracy or republic of some sort.
The same is true of Somalia. They are primitive people with primitive understandings, and their cultural organization reflects their primitive thinking, and tribalism is an effective and stable form of government in primitive situations.
If the people want a democracy, then they will have it, but they need arms if they are to overthrow a different cultural meme that holds them by force.
It is impossible, however, to impose democracy on some culture, as the US stupidly tries to do again and again. The desire for individual freedom and democracy must come from within. It can be supported, but not imposed.
People have a right to live in whatever cultural meme they think will provide for their safety and happiness, even if they are wrong.
