Thursday, August 28, 2014

America and the Islamic State

"America’s basic objective is clear: We must seek to destroy the Islamic State. It is simply not enough to block the group’s threat to the Kurds or other vulnerable minorities in the region. The risks of even a relatively small 'state' (or 'caliphate,' as they proclaim it) are chilling. Leaving the Islamic State in place and in control only of its current turf in Iraq and Syria (including northern-Iraqi hydrocarbon deposits and associated infrastructure) would make it viable economically and a fearsome refuge for terrorists of all sorts. 
Just as Afghanistan’s Taliban gave al-Qaeda a base of operations to launch terrorist attacks culminating in 9/11, a similar result could follow if the Islamic State successfully erased and then redrew existing boundaries."  — John R. Bolton, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

2 comments:

  1. I was in Kabul in 1971. I can tell you, unconditionally, that you never saw women, Afghan or Western walking around like the ones pictured above. My wife who was with me dressed modestly exposing as little skin as possible and still got the occasional dirty look. In Mazar e Sharif that year several western women had been stoned on the streets for dressing immodestly by Afgan standards. Women were warned to not make a display. It is and was, obviously, much worse under the Taliban, but the above comparison is bogus. Sorry.

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    1. I should add that we went to the home of a friend whose family was part of the ruling class. The house was a western style home enclosed within a walled compound. There his sisters swam in the family pool with as little concern as they would have in any western country. It was like an island in a sea of Sharia. After weeks in country it was shocking to the senses.

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