Yes, the Taliban’s extreme, but I secretly welcome this defeat of the US ideology of globalism, liberalism and consumerism
As I write, blue- and pink-haired Silicon Valley tech workers are desperately scrambling to determine what is acceptable for us to say on social media about Afghanistan.
“What can we permit them to think?” they are wondering. Perhaps they are waiting for their overlords to tell them what is going to be permissible or not.
I would guess that their eventual course of action will be to ban and disfavour algorithmically (for our own good, of course) any positive remarks towards the Taliban, as well as any criticism of the flood of Afghan refugees into Western countries. Indeed, accepting refugees will be the priority for liberal media, citing among other reasons the Taliban’s oppression of women, despite the evidence from photographs showing that thevast majority of those fleeing the country in a hurry are male.
While the US operates a hegemonic empire, it is not hegemonically of one opinion. A large section of Americans are not supportive of foreign invasions and occupations to begin with, and many now view their politicians with great mistrust and bemusement.
They rightly view the speeches and actions of these politicians as occurring within a closed bubble of increasingly insane terminology, such as the State Department’s demand that the Taliban form an “inclusive and representational government.”
Around the world, the reaction to the US withdrawal is similarly unsympathetic (as it was to the initial invasion), and both Russia and China have stepped in to offer tentative ties to the newly liberated nation of Afghanistan.
However, how can a Westerner like me feel sympathy for the Taliban? Believe it or not, there are many who view the recent dramatic turn of events with an observer’s dark joy. Those who are tired of seeing their own culture and religion eroded from within, and who feel a kind of secret relief at seeing someone successfully resist globalism, feminism, LGBTQ+ and critical race theory (CRT) ideology. They can see that their society has been turned into something dark by a manufactured value-system, promulgated by political elites and the money-power behind them.
When you are robbed of national pride, have no faith in your leaders, have no control over citywide riots or crime epidemics, and when the cornerstone of civilization itself (the family) is degraded by your own government, then you cannot so easily root for the home team in foreign engagements.