CNN: Videos Suggest Russia Arming Taliban

[Person Man]

If they are doing this, they are playing the payback card for what we did in Afghan in the 80s.

And think the payback will be the highest and the risks the lowest? ...because the President will maybe bomb an airfield but eventually let you have whatever your want?

[Person Man]

Who are the Pashtuns, anyway?

[Person Man]

The Pashtuns are unconquerable people. We can only pray for the Tajiks and other minorities who are destined to live under their tyranny.

While I never know if you're serious or not, there's some truth to that. You can never win a war until the enemy considers themselves defeated. The Pashtun people seem unwilling to give up. And considering the half-hearted effort we've made, the terrain, and the long history of the Graveyard of Empires, they have good reasons to be optimistic.

Look at Pakistan. The Punjabi majority lives in fear of the Pashtun minority. (perhaps this is a slight exaggeration, but in practice, it's not that far from the truth imo) There are about as many Sindhis as Pashtuns in Pakistan, but they are nowhere near as politically relevant as Pashtuns. FATA is the most terrifying place in the world for an outsider other than perhaps Somalia outside Mogadishu.

Who are the Pashtuns, anyway?

The Pashtuns are a tribal ethnic group native to Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. They are the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan and one of the two main minorities in Pakistan. Generally speaking, they have fiercely nationalistic and militaristic traditions. I suppose you could compare them to the Japanese in that regard.

Were they always there? Ate they somethung like the Kurds?

[Person Man]

Were they always there? Ate they somethung like the Kurds?

They've "always" been there to the extent that any ethnic group can be. Afghanistan is a Pashtun nation-state, although there is a Tajik minority that is quite influential due to their concentration in the cities, playing a role similar to Chinese Malays in Malaysia.

I wouldn't say they're really like the Kurds. Pashtuns have resisted and repelled conquerors for centuries, while the Kurds have lived under the rule of others.

And they are like a Persian people? J2? R1b?