• Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Afghanistan was an ally of Alexander as well, until such time as it was no longer beneficial to the tribes in control.

    The world sees Afghanistan as a country in the modern sense, when it is actually a tribal society that is no more politically cohesive than it was in Alexander’s day.

    When you are travelling and ask an American where they are from, they will often say their state, rather than the USA. To them this means a lot as they identify with their state more than with their nation but to outsiders it means nothing, we see than all as Americans.

    Afghanistan is the same but a 1,000 times more intense. Ask them what they are and they will reply Pashtuns, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baloch, Sadat, and about half a dozen others.

      • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Yes, because they are currently the ones with the support (or at best acquiesce) of the most of the tribes.

        But the currently in the previous sentence has a very short half-life.

        I am not telling China to stop, far from it. It will be fun to watch their grand plans to fall to shit the same way the USA’s did.

        I thought that the billions they have already pissed away on the belt and road project would have been a cautionary lesson. But it seems not.