How Did the Taliban Win In Afghanistan?
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
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Afghanistan, after 20 years of war, over a hundred thousand dead and more than a trillion dollars spent by the US and Nato, has this week fallen to the Taliban. This came after the armed group agreed a 'peace deal' with the US in Doha in 2020, their offensive beginning in earnest on the 1st of May 2021. By August, the Taliban were at the gates all the country's provincial capitals and controlled around 70% of its total districts. One by one, Zaranj, Kandahar, Lashkargah, Kunduz, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad fell, often with little or no real resistance from the Afghan National Army until only Kabul remained. On the 15th of August, Taliban fighters entered the suburbs and soon overran the capital, on the same day declaring the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as the former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and the green-red-black tricolour was torn down from the presidential palace.
In this video I address why the Afghan National Armed Forces were so inneffective at stopping the Taliban advance, despite billions of dollars and around 2 decades of training and support from the United States and their allies. I will further look at the role, or lack thereof, of the various warlords such as Ismail Khan, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Atta Muhammad Noor who were famed for their dogged resistance in the face of the Taliban in the 1990s. Finally, I will look at the strategies employed by the Taliban to grind down their opponents and facilitate the mass surrender of the Afghan National Army as well as how they managed to cripple the government in Kabul.
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0:00 - Intro
1:26 - The Taliban Offensive
4:30 - The State of the Afghan National Army
11:36 - Ground News Ad
12:57 - Who are the Warlords?
18:38 - Why the Warlords Crumbled
25:37 - Taliban's Rural Dominance
28:52 - Winning the Propaganda War
31:15 - Taliban's Grand Strategy
35:26 - Outro
Music Used:
Desert City - Kevin MacLeod
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
Expeditionary - Kevin MacLeod
Envision - Kevin MacLeod
Infados - Kevin MacLeod
The Pyre - Kevin MacLeod
SCPx5x - Kevin MacLeod
Mystery Bazaar - Kevin MacLeod
Opium - Kevin MacLeod
Finding the Balance - Kevin MacLeod
SCPx7x - Kevin MacLeod
Asian Drums - Kevin MacLeod
The Escalation - Kevin MacLeod
Send me an email if you'd be interested in doing a collaboration! historywithhilbert@gmail.com
#Afghanistan #News #Afghan
Did you mention that president Ashraf Ghani wrote a book titled "How to fix a failed state"? Ironic
Can you please tell me the steps? asking for a friend
In 1992 when he was a young reporter he wrote an article about the final Soviet withdrawal (with that country’s dissolution)…history really can be so circular .
One truly wants to quote Dark Plagueis with that guy
He wrote a book that contained only one line: "I don't know how to fix a failed state."
This is the first major victory for the Islamic world in over 40 years against America's War on Islam.
I knew there was something off about how easily the Taliban won. Makes a lot of sense now.
Exactly. The US made itself their own bed.
There are a lot of misconceptions and critical assumptions, here.
i wonder why the US Government did not see Afghanistan's weakness in corruption.
Should've just pulled out when we killed bin laden
@@Ray-fk4vh Lol you Really think it was about Bin Laden?? It was about money, minerals, diamonds and Opium! But they did not expect the stiff resistance of the Taliban.
there is one fact that no one wants to admit: the Taliban are popular in Afghanistan...
I mean anything is better than a foreign army.
@@roberttaylor1426 North Koreans will not welcome an American army with open arms. Not a single country on this planet will. Let go of your delusion.
My friend who was serving there in 2009 told me the same thing back then
That’s what happens when a drone strike hits a wedding or a school
This is just not true, north afghanis are oppressed by the taliban
" They have the watches but we have the time"
The Taliban
go to russia and chine donot kill the poor countries.
Lol deadass
@@wadefreeman7340???
Nice pfp
How did we win lol I tell you short answer my friend?. See Taliban aren't the Latinos Taliban aren't the blks we don't take a George Floyd and just sing and dance and beg for fairness from white oppressors. Taliban are people who will fight you and disrespect you right back.. You see the flag planting picture just like ww2 how many times have the infidels disrespected the arab men?
Many now you have a taste of that back.. The blks and latinos should take note.. You can not play koi with people who think they are king's on earth because they were born white..
ALLAHU AKBAR🏴🏴
Something I wanna add, the Taliban is indeed a majority Pashtun organization but in the last couple of years, they've really started to recruit people of different ethnicities and even shia's. There are Tajik, Uzbek military commanders. Pretty sure there's even one Hazara commander. In any event, plenty of districts fell without firing a bullet. For example, a Tajik commander knew the tribal elders in a district and convinced them to surrender and be spared the bloodshed. This recruitment of different ethnicities and religious sects serves as propaganda for the Taliban and made it a lot easier for them to prevent a Northern Alliance 2.0.
That is something I've noticed, the Taliban seem much less radical and revanchist then they were in 1996. While a Taliban victory isn't ideal, it seems like it isn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Surprisingly it seems that 20 years of war have moderated them, rather then radicalizing them further as you would have expected
@Depresso Caspico the Taliban and the Mujahideen are not the same thing. America supported the Mujahideen, who after falling to the Taliban(created by the Pakistani Interservice Intelligence) in 1996 formed the Northern Alliance, who were the basis of the new Afghan government established after the coalition invasion in 2001
@@jackwalters5506 it certainly help that the most radical element flocked to the IS-KP. And fortunately, they hate each other.
diversity is good for business, applying corporate principles to warfare that's fascinating
@@bonfire4120 The last thing I or anyone should want is a prosperous Taliban Afghanistan
When the Taliban took Kabul in '96 they had direct military assistance from Pakistan, how much the ISI influences them now I don't know. The Carter administration on July 3rd '79 began providing assistance to opponents of the Afghan regime, Zbigniew Brzezinski was asked if he regretted this decision. 'Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it?' The region will be haunted by the consequences of that decision for decades.
The seeds of that conflict were planted years before, and not by any American. Before any American assistance came in, the communist government was already waging a brutal civil war with entire divisions deserting their army, not to mention rival communist gangs killing each other in the capital along with multiple coups. If Americans want to repudiate their country's role in Afghanistan's descent into civil war, they can do so without trying to make the US the center of the world.
No, Pakistan doesn't control them now. They only listen to Pakistan because of the 1979 Connections.
This time it was Taliban's own victory because some in Afghan army were selling their weapons to the black market.
Also China Russia Iran are fine with current takeover
@@BrorealeK Hell the whole reason Pakistan funds insurgencies in Afghanistan is because of the Durand line, which was drawn by the British in 1893.
@@Vuosta It was Mohammed Daoud Khan's failed military invasion that did that not the British.
basically the former government got comfortable with the nato aid while the taliban actually learnt from their previous mistakes doing far more diplomacy than raw oppression.
let's just hope for the sake of the people living there they continue that approach to avoid insurgencies.
Don't get your hopes up, they won't do that once they feel the have enough security. That's the way it is with extremists; Get in power, then kill the opposition
@@sarosp9330 sadly so and most likely they'll punish those who fail to escape discouraging people from emigration
@@sonicmeerkat if you think this is bad then you ain't seeing the worst one and it's gonna come in future.
@@Ghost12314 oh I know things are gonna get bad, main reason why I'm worried for the people.
I personally couldn't have cared for the previous government noting it barely had control to begin with and didn't make the people care for their cause, and with how corruption leading to its downfall seems like my opinion was correct, just yaknow Taliban weren't on my list for worthy replacements
It wasn't really diplomacy. The taliban policy was basically standard extortion and they used the same policies to take over the 1990s. The offer is always that you can fight us and die.....or stand aside and live for a while.
The bad policies of the Taliban in the old days were when the leadership would order things done that were self-destructive and pointless. Like when they blew up the old statues and got international coverage. Or when they decided to take on the US after 9/11 and wouldn't listen to anyone (including pakistan) about the consequences of that.
I think the current leaders of the taliban are still dumb guys, but they are less dumb than one-eyed Omar and the gang who provided the leadership in the 1990s.
It's interesting that the "Ghost Soldiers" thing also happened in South Vietnam I think that's just what happens when you bring in literal plane loads of cash to a poor country
Same thing happened during the Chinese Civil War with the American backed Nationalist Army. Seems like Uncle Sam have a problem...
But the Taliban were making billions themselves yet had no problem paying their fighters. They have almost no corruption issues as far as we know.
@@jenkz16 any nation with an economy based on resource extraction has huge corruption problems as starving peasants can work in a mine
@@nulnoh219 Nationalist China was extremely corrupt long before America got involved you can't win warlords over to your side without a bribe
@@RADIZ2013 I am aware of this idea. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Norway are nations that rely heavily on an economy based solely on natural resources (oil) and have no corruption issues. Australia relies heavily on natural resources (minerals) again, no corruption issues. If what you see is true, these nations would not function as they do.
I work with quite a few ex British soldiers who served in Afghan. Many of them have said that in part, a big issue has been the inability of Afghan security forces. According to one ex-squaddie, whenever they went on patrol with Afghan soldiers, many of them would be high on opium and would even smoke it whilst on duty, to the point whereby under fire, they'd run into the firing line shooting their weapons into air whilst laughing their heads off. Others would cower in fear at the first sign of trouble and expect our guys to do the fighting, so in the words of one of the guys I spoke to, "If they aren't prepared to fight for their country, what was the F***ing point in us being there"
you all invade their country so you all should die for them! 🤣
Well, if the most cowardly of them were willing to join the British and NATO allies, and the rest joined the Taliban, what does that tell you about the invading forces? That they were not there to restore peace or establish justice. Good people do not attract cowards.
@@1994mrmysteryman majority of Afghans support Taliban and new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan...so you are right about that Sir. You are one of the first few Westerners who realise this! Respect to you!
Ah they were not prepared too fight for invaders u mean?
As if you guys had the balls to fight the Taliban if you didn’t have such a numerical and technological advantage
I was in Afghanistam in 2014 and everything mentioned in this video caught my attention when I was there. I knew what we are witnessing right now was gonna happen exactly the way it did, and this quickly. I'm sick of the media bubbles trying to blame politicians here in the US for what happened because clearly the media and people who pretend to be experts have never stepped foot in Afghanistan.
I was there 2008-2010 and I called this back then didn't plan that the moron in office would leave 90billion worth of equipment though let them keep there heroin junkies and chai boys I personally have zero respect for them because they refuse to defend there land.
Afghans are Muslims, they will never trust a Christian army
I am a Hindu Indian. We call afghans as looters....
Your terrorist army was never meant to be in Afghanistan.
@@CtheDead209-zt8tj They did, it's pretty hard to defend your country when the insurgents are better fed, armed and trained then you are. Not everyone gets to call in a A-10 to solve their problems like American soldiers can.
Thank you Hilbert. Consistently excellent video, as always!
Recently spent some time with a childhood friend who's spent the last 20 years serving in the US army, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and asked his opinion on the withdrawal and fall. His response was that the entire thing was (a) inevitable, and (b) terribly handled by the US...but that he had absolutely no idea how he would have effectively done it any differently.
On a side note, my parents were fortunate to have traveled extensively in Afghanistan in the 1970s. They said it was the single most extraordinary country they had ever visited, both in terms of the land and its people. Shortly after they left the Soviets invaded, and we were back to the graveyard of empires routine...
This is the most informative piece of media on the subject I've consumed in literal weeks. Wish the news would report on stuff like this. Excellent video.
It feels a bit wrong even "liking" this video. History hits different when it's not yet firmly in the past. But thanks for covering the current events.
Don't feel bad. The Afghan government was worse than the Taliban.
@@toasterpastries5811 Worse than being enslaved and beheaded?
@@zeuscaesar4845 those aren't even the worst thing they're doing.
@@toasterpastries5811 cant agree more
@@zeuscaesar4845 ok islamophob 😠
Hey Hilbert.
Thank you a lot for this excellent video. I was hoping you would do one on this topic since you have done ones on other current conflicts before which gave me a very differenciated view on them as well.
Cheers
Thank you very much!
This was a great video. I know I can trust this channel since it seems like one of the few that was consistently talking about Afghanistan before it got trending after its downfall
They buried their guns, waited until we left, dug out the guns and walked outside.
The Taliban were essentially dead early on in the war. The movement was essentially reborn in the Afghan countryside as a result of ANA/Coalition behavior in the countryside with mass arrests/repression/raids/airstrikes/corruption and killings.
Excellent deep dive into the events of the last 12 months! Thank you for making this.
A tour de force. The best brief analysis of events in Afghanistan I have encountered. Bravo!
Best Analysis I have seen so far, about what really happened in Afghanistan in the past few years!!!
So, where is all that money now?
Politicians, the scum of this planet.
I think it is in the gold chairs in the capital building in Kabul
@@Sparticulous nope, imagine how much that has been spent on salaries,equipment and a bunch of shit, thats a lot of money for corporations and bankers and politicians
Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan with 175 million $ in his luggage
USA: Tell the Taliban off, Afghan National Army, assert yourself!
Afghan National Army: Hey that's my provincial capital!
USA: Great, now let em' have it!
Afghan National Army: You can have it!
afghan army fighted for money just like trump said they had no will to die
We talk as though .....ok...before I go any further....
......is every body in USA a Democrat ??
.....A Republican ??...does everybody vote, even if of Voting Age ??
So how comes we talk about all Afghans as one group??...or , all Iraqis....or all Iranians....etc., etc...
Why don't we mention Children, or women/men, The Infirmed;__ etc., etc. ??
.....when we go on Bombing Operations...???
@@clydeaimes2161 well he did say army not afghan people so...
Jesus thats good
The tone of hopelessness and permanence of the situation in this video is so depressing. This literally happened a couple weeks ago but it’s being talked about like 2001 is.
This is the video the world needs to see to understand the Afghanistan Fiasko! Well made video and glad to have found your channel :)
Awesome vid, been waiting for some channel to do a video like this since it happened, you've done a great job !
Hilbert, just out of curiosity, when are you gonna release a video on the Sri Lankan Civil War? Thanks for letting me know.
The comments of that video would be nearly as bad as videos on Northern Ireland
As a Sri Lankan, I would love to see such a video
@@alcabone1126 Why? I'm just curious.
@@tiredox3788 The Sri Lankan government with the aid of India killed thousands of Tamils civilians because the Tamil Tigers were fighting for autonomy/independence.
@@overdose8329 found the Tamil
A Sharpe reference at 5:23?
Now that’s soldiering!
This video is really well made. No sources but I know you have done your research very well, it is just excellent. Thank you for educating us.
Taliban won because of the corrupt politicians and army commanders. As Afghan I am happy the Afghan army didn't fight for those corrupt politicians..
Why would afghans fight taliban? Taliban are also afghans
@@paiman95able yes they were Afghan. Afghan criminals and terrorists. The vast majority of the war in Afghanistan was fought between Taliban and Afghan military. The US had a pretty minor involvement overall after they killed Osama in 14
The whole country is corrupt
Also has support from the locals
Excellent video, you did exceptional research. A well presented and objective video.
This was MUCH more informative than any news outlet out there (that I have access to). Great work!
Been following you through RSS, but now... *subcribe*
Thanks for informing on this subject!
This is an excellent factual analysis of the situation of how the Afghan Taliban were able to secure their ultimate triumph in the Afghan War. Thank you for putting this together!
What a great channel! Glad I subscribed a while ago. Very informative
The way the situation in Afghanistan unravelled reminded me eerily of the Russian language novel Holiday Mountain (also translated as Festive Mountain) written by Alisa Ganieva and published in 2012. It describes an entirely hypothetical scenario where the Russian federal authorities decide that the Islamist insurgency in Dagestan isn't worth the trouble and suddenly decide to withdraw all troups from the region and build a border wall cutting it off from the rest of the country. Dagestan in 2012 and Afghanistan in 2021 have both striking similarities and vast differences, but the thing that sticks out to me the most is the situation where a tenacious and passionate Islamist movement is ineffectually opposed by an ostensibly modern and secular regime which has nothing to offer its citizens other than rampant corruption, petty squabbles between ruling factions and police brutality.
А как по русски называется?
@@bigbirb340 Праздничная гора
Very interesting. Is there an English translation of that novel? I'm not super familiar with the region but it seems like if Dagestan fell, so would Chechnya.
@@grahamcarpenter5135 Almost whole of Northern Caucasus would fall on that scenario
That is highly unlikely in reality tho
@@DeathsOnTheYAxis well the book is more of an introspection on Dagestani society than a geopolitical thought experiment. Moscow, the Islamic world and the West exist in it more as vague external sources of cultural influence than as sets of political actors with interests of their own. There is a large cast of characters, but nearly all of them are Dagestani.
Additionally, while quitting the Caucasus isn’t seriously considered by any Russian decisionmakers, “stop feeding the Caucasus” is a pretty popular slogan among grassroots Russian nationalists, feeding on base ethnic prejudices and a perception of unfair treatment from the federal government. I’m guessing that the author, as a Dagestani woman who has spent much of her life in Moscow, would be very familiar with such sentiments and would have fantasized about what the logical conclusion of that slogan would actually look like, regardless of its feasibility.
Thank you for making this.
Loved the way the things are explained and highlighted. Great work
Thank you
This was a really well researched, informing and entertaining video.
I see we're not gonna give any credit to Pakistan for supporting the Taliban in all this?
At least they're dealing with the blowback, if all else fails.
Pakistan? The ally of America? No thats more blame on the USA tbh
@@alchemist7525 you mean the country that's been at the forefront of holding back the Taliban?
@Amaan Hussain wait, how does spending nearly a trillion usd benefit us? Also, it's kinda hard to stop a trade like that if you have to stabilize the country first
@Amaan Hussain also, I wasn't asking you, I was asking someone else
I like very much this video and your analysis! Thank you!
This is a very knowledgeable video! I’ve learned so much and now understand. It’s nice to learn what’s actually happening rather than each political side blame the other. Thank you for the amazing video
been waiting for this
Ok. Now I understand why they couldn't form a government. Mostly due to tribalism.
Yeah, I think the hope was with twenty years, or one generation of support, there were be some change in the attitude. For whatever reason, that did not happen, not even close. It took Europe a millennium to get past feudalism.
@@catsupchutney It'll take a lot less time nowadays with numerous states, their firms, as well as international NGOs bringing in newer technologies (e.g., weapons, communications, infrastructure, healthcare), though the natives will need to assimilate, which will result in lots and lots of displacement, death, and destruction, unfortunately.
but they did have a government just some jealous cousin thought hed be better off in chrge of the countries
The west needs to learn that we can’t just install nation states in areas they have no reason to be in.
The US needs to stop trying to prop up governments around the world
This was a great video. We want to make some content about the politics of the short-lived "Republic of Afghanistan." This primer was amazing.
Thank you! Let me know when the podcast is up!
This is definitely one of the best analysis videos on the situation that I've seen. Everyone from multiple administrations to our allies and mainstream media ignored the fact that 80 percent of the Afghan Army is high on opium and hash. Vice news exposed that and the corruption of patrol base commanders multiple times and everyone ignored it. Nobody wants to put in the actual work of building a nation from literally the ground up. We didn't learn our lesson from Vietnam now it's biting us in the rear again.
Rebel inc players: hey I’ve seen this before
Don't let that VICE documentary warp your world view. Yes there is corruption but the real story was more complicated than that documentary presents it to be. Its not true that no one wants to do the nation building. A huge number of people flooded into Afghanistan since 2002, for exactly that purpose. It was interesting how many varied groups came from all over the world to try build a healthy, democratic enlightened nation.
@@sharnistevens1428 Well the thing is Democracy may not be what countries like Afghanistan needs. Implementing a Democratic government into a tribal country might be one of the first mistakes here.
The only time I ever remember Afghanistan actually being unified is when it was a monarchy that all tribes serve under.
@@imlivingunderyourbed7845 we want Shariah Law in Afghanistan without Western interference as Afghanistan is 99.99% Mualim. Taliban are doing a good job at being a centralized government. The problem is the petty US sanctions and the US theft of the Afghan assets, both which is making the humanitarian crisis which started under the US-Ghani regime worse becausethe new Afghan govts hands are tied so they can'tbuild the economy & country back faster. The great thing about the new Afghan government is that they are honest, ethical and work extremely hard...they are leaders who aren't afraid of hard work and not politicians who just talk crap and lie. Another problem is that all sectors were left in a mess under the US-NATO watch and they know this but don't ever speak about it and blame the our new Afghan govt.
It sounds like the coalition was still trying to win the "hearts and minds" of the people there and they figured it wouldn't be helpful to call them out for getting high all the time. If they could have waited until they were off duty it might not have been so bad but everyone needs to be totally focused while on duty in case they run into an ambush.
finally video which explains everything clearly.
thank you
Hey Hilbert do a video about the Liberian cival wars
Hilbert quickly becoming an expert on Afghan modern history!
this is just stupid propaganda of western media and extremely baised...
@@ibnebadr367 How so?
@@ibnebadr367 true
what an excellent and informative video. well done, sir.
Endurance. Because they live there and we don’t. That’s how.
The South Vietnamese held out for two years against the VC. The Afghan army didn't even come close to that.
@@catsupchutney ah yes because you can definetly compare these two extremely different countries/ situations/conflicts. wheres the point? it wont give you ANY answers
@@pissfather6798 I love the internet.
@@pissfather6798 ask me how I know you're a redditor
How did we win lol I tell you short answer my friend?. See Taliban aren't the Latinos Taliban aren't the blks we don't take a George Floyd and just sing and dance and beg for fairness from white oppressors. Taliban are people who will fight you and disrespect you right back.. You see the flag planting picture just like ww2 how many times have the infidels disrespected the arab men?
Many now you have a taste of that back.. The blks and latinos should take note.. You can not play koi with people who think they are king's on earth because they were born white..
ALLAHU AKBAR🏴🏴
Cuz they live there 😐 walking in someone’s home and wondering why they’re still there when you leave is wild
@A Fels Taliban is Pashtun dominated and Pashtun live on both sides of the border. The border means little to them and Pakistan can't do anything about it. They control a checkpoint now. Major powers could not defeat them and Pakistan suffered with their resistance also. If the world can't beat these tough mountain people then let them rule their land. The largest tribe in Afghanistan also is Pashtun so let them rule.
@@mahmudshiil135 Why are they claiming sovereignty over non-Pashtun areas? It seems like a double-standard to behave in such a way. All of these groups - foreign and domestic - are too power-hungry to even entertain a multi-state solution. It hardly even comes up.
@@fuzzydunlop7928 i don't condone it but it is obvious the largest ethnic group in every country wants to rule and dominate the politics and Pashtun are the largest, they believe in Taliban and they said they will build inclusive government. Let's see how that works out for them. The world can't do anything now.
@A Fels China is in bed with Taliban.
@@Alaryk111 China really hopes they're in bed with the Taliban. The Taliban's only interested so long as they provide money and weapons, same song different verse.
French army jokes out. Afghanistan army jokes in.
Very informative! Awesome job man
Really interesting video great editing also 💯 good job
10:48 Small nitpick, that's an AH-6 Little Bird, not a UH-60 Black Hawk.
it's mental how long these have been in production, lovely to fly apparently.
Just found your channel. Wow amazing video, you have clearly don't a lot of research and are well read on this. Amazing
Best video on Afghanistan that I’ve seen. Nice work
It’s very different to view anything there when you know someone who is actually trapped in Kabul. It has been a complete nightmare We wait for news everyday that they have found a way out. Thank you for posting this analysis of the situation.
Hope they're safe 🙏
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 thank you 🙏🏽 They aren’t taking any great risks at the moment. They’re waiting for the borders to open. It’s just such a heartbreaking and scary situation.
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 They finally made it back to the US. It’s a long and crazy story. One of the most frustrating parts is that the US government did zero to help them return. This is after countless emails and calls to all of our reps, different agencies etc.
@@Lemoncatsf That sounds like an absolute nightmare but I'm very glad they're safe and sound
They must be very brave to go through all that
@@hehehehehohohoho3246 Very brave and wily. Our friend used his smarts and some type of lucky grace to get out 🙏🏽
A substantial number of Taliban Pashtun warriors are also Pakistani.
"Hmm...I wonder why"
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate entity, and then there's even smaller groups loyal to the Taliban in Pakistan
@@ok00001 The Pashtun population in Pakistan is 3x larger than that in Afghanistan
@@ok00001 it's not because of refugees the region of khyber pakhtunkhwa hosts a pashtun majority in Pakistan and it used to be in afghanistan before the British took it away and incorporated it into British india which was passed on to Pakistan after the partition of British India
No shit since there’s around 25million Pashtun on the border of Afghanistan and 11 million on the other side of the border all related to each other one way or another around a century ago that part of Pakistan was Afghanistan
Excellent analysis 🤠
love your deep dives man
A interesting follow-up video would be why Afghanistan remained so 'tribal' in the first place and why the attempts at unifying the country failed. Another question I have (but probably goes togheter with the above) is why there was such rampant corruption? Why would the Afghan officials and officers sell away their supplies and keep the loans of the soldiers?
Nation states matter. "Afghanistan" only existed because of its dynasts.
I think it has to do with it being an extremely remote region with many mountains dividing the country which explains why there were so many warlords in Afghanistan
Difficult terrain + close to non-existent infrastructure to link.
in a word, mountains
@@EresirThe1st ironic since you're advocating primitive cave man shit like the taliban lol..
Love your videos, thanks for covering this
9:28 There is a typo in the quote. It says "form" instead of "from".
Love your videos Hilbert!
wow...so much information. thank you
Exhaustively researched video & super useful! Thanks for putting in so much work on it!
Loved that Sharpe reference
Very well explained!!
Damn Hilbert good job
Air Force technicians when they get a call from the Afghan National army about how to fix their vehicles: 🔇
This question has already been answered by Vice 8 years ago through a documentary 8 years ago title "What Winning looks like" .
That was a good documentary
Hey Hilbert, from 23:00 there is some background music thats a bit loud over your voice / not really fitting, you might want to check that track in your library :)
Detailed analysis broken down to be easy to comprehend. Like
Gotta admit I didn't expect the Sharpe reference
Interesting how the author describes the taliban as a "militia" but proceeds to confirm its total numbers are 70 000, that's 20,000 more than the Canadian armed forces 10000 more than Singapore armed forces
lmao numbers=quality???
@@alfijibril611 Enough to beat NATO and NATO trained soldiers.
@@masoodjalal1152 you're right
@@alfijibril611 well we can say that the taliban are seasoned soldiers after decades of war
@@alfijibril611 than why do you think Germany lost against the soviet union?
Superb job! well done and thank you
It's crazy how in someplace corruption is just seen as a perk of high authority. At some point you have to ask yourself how many rounds fired into your own foot is enough
I think places with high corruption enable that corruption when folks don't see it as corruption.
It made me question what things I see as natural that are really just corruption.
I don’t see any other comments talking about how he might have said African national army in the one soldiers quote
I also found that odd...
Many other sources: "The Afghan people just wanted the Taliban" or "The Afghan military are just cowards."
H.W.H. : "There are a lot of interconnecred factors and many different independent factors that lead to this".
the regular Afghan army is full of bloody idiots though. No one is denying that
2:00 Fun Fact: The US did something similar to this with South Vietnam.
Being forced to signing a treaty that did not benefit the Southern Government such as having Northern troops stay in the South (NVA were in the middle of their Easter Offensive). If they did not sign the US would cut funding which it did eventually anyways. Paris Peace Accords allowed the US to withdraw and get their POWs while both North and South were supposed to re-unify eventually without annexation.
"Being forced to signing a treaty that did not benefit the Southern Government such as having Northern troops stay in the South"
LOL.
And what credibility did South Vietnam have exactly? South Vietnam formed because they didn't want to lose elections which they would so they said screw democracy and created their own pseudo-state.
The US logistical and material support remained a lot longer in South Vietnam, and the ARVN managed to hold out for a while on that.
very useful, thanks
From a bad decision, to a worse decision, ending with the worst outcome.
Inevitable outcome
Dangerous move discussing this topic considering CZcams doesn’t like politics on their platform. Props to you.
In between 8:05 and 8:06 you had a split frame second showing the video movie software you were using lol
Thank you for this. I feel at least a little more educated on the Afghanistan government.
Maybe don’t overthrow the monarchy in the first place…
Blame the Soviets
The monarchy was perfect for Afghanistan.
@@gavinisdie Blame america not the soviets. they already where gone when this happened,. sure they wanted to invade afghanistan first. but when pakistan america and israel created the mujahedeen they knew they couldnt win it. the mujahedeen was literally created to fight against the soviets. so the soviet knew they couldnt win after loosing 15K soldiers. and moved themself out of afghanistan. Then the Mujahedeen took over till 1994 when the Taliban was created. created by america israel and pakistan. to fight against the Mujahedeen which like i said was created by america as well. and from that day on all things went wrong as we know. then in 2001 bush invaded afghanistan under lies. Bush told the world that the taliban knew where osama was hidden. but the taliban didnt know. so he invaded afghanistan anyway. the invasion of afghanistan in 2001 was because of 9/11. which as also a false flag created by america israel and saudi arabia. more then half of the hijackers where from saudi arabia. Al Qeada who was behind it. Also an american/israel created terrorist group was responsible for it. with the help ofc of america saudi arabia and israel. so why didnt america attack israel and saudi arabia? well those are their allies. they literally sponsor and have the lead over the american government/congress. Thats how all of this started. not because of the soviets. if you want to talk about something know facst. not some propganda that the west have been telling you.
@@metalvideos1961Dude you sound like Kim Jong un over here ranting about western propaganda when the monarchy’s destruction had nothing to do with America😂
@@gavinisdie The Monarchy was toppled by the King's cousin Daoud Khan who violently repressed anyone deemed sympathetic to Islamism or Communism, which was what triggered the Communist revolution. The man was an idiot
This was a very detailed video. Short with clear descriptions to a huge problem
There's moments in here where Hilbert's voice gets an angry undertone. I've never noticed it in any of his videos before
Generally a good analysis, though I feel you missed a few essential points, particularly the mistakes of the U.S. made with the occupation, namely:
-The ANA was taught the american way of fighting, with air superiority and everything. This was simply unsustainable without american support. The ANA was never set up for functioning without U.S. support.
-American operations in Afghanistan, particularly drone warfare and similar tactics, frequently caused severe collateral damage, fueling anti-american sentiment, which in turn gave the taliban a popularity boost as the anti-american group. Beyond the initial driving out of the Taliban, U.S. operations in Afghanistan have for years been essentially counterproductive.
-On top of being made up of questionable figures, the Afghan government set up by the U.S. was fundamentally a puppet show, which certainly did not help with inspiring confidence or pride in locals.
ANA still had more weapons and military planes and equipment than Taliban, so stop making excuses for them. Many ANA soldiers realised that there was no reason to fight their own anymore, so didn't fight and were sent home by Taliban.
ANA was attacked in many areas when civilians heard that Taliban were on there way. In Khost, civilians mobilized to fight the KPF, the US trained special unit rabid dogs & ANA, alongside the Taliban. You had to see the heros welcomes Taliban got as they rolled through the country in those few days...I guess your media forgot to show u that.
Basically, you forgot the most important part...majority of Afghans support Taliban and now the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan government and wanted the foreign occupiers out and that the US had no right to illegally invade Afghanistan.
Even atheists were supporting the Taliban, which surprized me too as i thought that they would support the foreign occupiers but an American on Twitter said that his atheist friends were supporting Taliban to get rid of the foreign invaders. August 15th 2021 was the happiest day for majority of Afghans, except those traitors and puppets who lost their power, privilege and paychecks.. Then we watched NATO run away chaotically, which was great, except when many of our ppl were shot by the unprofessional US soldiers firing indiscriminately after the ISKP attack and many Talibs getting killed in the iskp attack too at the Kabul Airport and then the US drone strike Killing 10 Afghans.
Only the Afghans who benefited from the foreign occupiers were happy with the foreign occupier terrorists staying forever, no one else.
Taliban are Afghans, our own people, not foreign invader oppressors. Taliban fought for 20yrs to free us from the foreign occupier terrorists and their evil puppets. The US should've never been destroying and interfering in other countries, stayed on their own soil and protected their own country instead of apparently allowing 2 planes to be stolen and crashed into buildings but instead they are destroying all our countries and acting as of they are doing something good & are our saviours. We never wanted your democracy. Who wants to be like woke democratic America when we have our own religion, culture and values! Your democracy in itself is a joke...the West is falling apart. Till today, the US can't let go of Afghanistan and is still sanctioning and stealing the Afghan assets and interfering and spying on Afghanistan...move on already, 20yrs was too much, face the loss especially after Taliban were willing to apprehend and try or send OBL to The Hague/3rd country where he would get a fair trial once the US provided proof that OBL was guilty of 9/11 but the US choose to illegally invade and wage a 20yr war causing lose, destruction and sending our ppl to Guatanamo Bay and using enhanced torture techniques there and at Bagram etc.
The Afghan National Army Sounded like the KMT controlled Republic of China pre-1949 and the South Vietnamese government in 1976.
South Vietnamese govt lasted longer after American withdrawl
@@asiancinemabuns8203 2 years I think
always felt the structure should've been a federation rather than a unitary state
Loved the music during the whole video but something about the new sounds around 23:15 sound like a Samsung ringtone to me
I came across an article that points out due to the sino Soviet split, china sent supplies and military advisers to the mujahedeen during the soviet invasion. Wonder how much they got involved.
China had no involvement in afganistan we would have found out if they did amd sanctioned the shit out of them or worse. China's hands are clean as far as the war on terror in afganistan...
The corruption of the Afghan government and military command made it too unstable to fight the Taliban, to put it short. What I think the US could’ve done instead of leaving entirely was switching to unconventional warfare tactics.
thats exactly what has been happening for nearly the entire war. Special forces units were almost always used successful against the taliban. But this caused them to be overused and strained.
USA cannot fight unconventional war and win. The USA is not good at that. Look at Vietnam
This whole thing has been incredibly frustrating to follow... this war had had family and friends part of it since I was just a child... and to see it fall back Into their hands so easily just hurts...
I am sorry for your loss. You should be questioning the real reasons for these wars which is that wars are needed to justify military spending and keep military industrial complex running. No one should die to make these rich pigs more money
@@Adam.Angaar you gotta give your army and equipment experience.. if your military isn’t up to par, someone else’s will be.
@@matthewh7437 what a bullshit excuse to kill innocent people. And i sat innocent because all this started because we didnt want Afganistan to be a socialist nation with health care, equality, and free education but this is what we got instead
@@Adam.Angaar questioning doesn't equate to an actual real life change. Neither does youtube raging. Get active in your community.
"Their hands" is exactly where the majority of Afghans want Afghanistan to be. Your family and friends should not have been in my country. Their filthy feet should not have touched Afghan soil! Majority of Afghans support Taliban and IEA government and are happy that they've regained power...the US were foreign invaders in our country and we lost millions of lives to US hands, our ppl were tortured and sent to Bagram and Guatanamo Bay, raped and other atrocities commited by the US army. Thanks to our Taliban heros, our sons of the soil, we got our freedom from the US & NATO oppressors back and they were sent running.
Show hasn't end yet my friend
love your work
When you play Hearts of Iron with console commands
The geography definitely is a big reason why the Taliban was successful. It allowed them to operate in secrecy and gave them protection when it came to attacks.
Modern guerilla wars are extremely hard to win given they'll simply hide until the larger forces get bored and exhausted from war. The only real way to win is through sheer brutality, but that would look really bad for a modern democracy.
It depends what you call for "win". If the US had left right after murdering OBL they could have just call it a day. But they choose to build a "democratic state" for honestly no good reason. I mean i guess publicity is important, but still a very dumb thing altogether....
Best way would be to flatten all the mountains and the mass oppression of tribes who support them, mainly pashtun tribes.
@@ShinigamiInuyasha777 "No good reason" is that they wanted stability--a pro-American democratic Middle Eastern country would've been a bonus (pipe dream or not, it would've been a bonus) but at the very least, one less potentially volatile chunk of land right in the middle of Eurasia. Walk in, shoot, and leave doesn't end the conflict; just changes the target to the next warlord in charge. Turns out they couldn't end the conflict anyway.
Did they soviet Union not try to depopulate the area in their war? This is what caused women and children to go to neighbouring countries. These children would find refuge in extremists schools and form the Taliban.
@@ShinigamiInuyasha777 their objective was to remove the taliban from power. by this definition they lost
very detailed and accurate video
10:11 That looks like a fun little plane/lawnmower.
That's actually a plane specifically made for counter insurgencies. Just look up Embraer 314 Super Tucano
@@oneof29 i am no plane expert but that plane kinda seems outdated
@@banana9056 Nah, that's a fairly modern plane. All glass cockpit and stuffs. Just look it up
@@oneof29 yeah but, for some reason I thought that it would have a jet
@@banana9056 I guess they opted to use propellers (which I presume is turboprop) since they were designed for close range ground attacks. Hence why they don't need the high speed of a jet engine.