Afghanistan.

Well, what can I say about this clusterfuck of a situation, other than it was entirely predictable. The past 200 years of history has proven that the Brits, the Russians and now the combined Western World can't tame that country.

I'll explain later why Afghanistan can't be tamed, but first let's pause an remember all of those men and women that lost their lives, or who were badly injured whilst on duty in that fly-blown, sandbox of a country. It's those people and their families that I have sympathy for today. Just what did they die for? Just why were our soldiers permanently maimed? To what purpose? 

Twenty years and several lives later and Afghanistan is returning to the status quo. 

The country cannot be tamed, because there are not enough people in the country to police every inch of it. The country is a disparate set of towns, separated by hundreds of miles. Armies can disappear into the wilderness and because they have no uniform, can travel at will around the country. When necessary they can form into organised groups and attack in force, only to melt into the wilderness again afterwards.

The other thing to understand is the Taliban, like other Muslim extremist groups, are actually looked on as more pious, more Muslim and therefore less pious Muslims can't resist them. Because to do so would be to go against a group that follows the teachings of Allah to a more extreme degree. The Taliban are better Muslims than those that have been corrupted by the West's values. Those the West call moderate Muslims, the favourite kind of Muslim for the Media.

It's exactly the same here in the UK with extremist Muslim groups and the child rape gangs. That's why they can flourish within the Muslim community. The extremists are following the Koran more accurately and to a more extreme degree than the lax Muslims that are "moderate". 

In the Muslim world, the extremists will always win out. It's built-in.

And so Afghanistan slips back to extremism. The Western World has failed, due to a lack of stamina. 

The sad thing is that we are now more at risk at home too. The extremists are here on our soil. Once Afghanistan and Iraq fall back to their default positions, the training camps will start up, the networks in the West will be activated. 

Emboldened by these "victories" you will see more atrocities on Western Soil. 

Mark My Words.

Who will be next to try their hand in Afghanistan? China maybe? There are resources to be had there and the country is virtually empty. China has no compunction about the excessive use of force in order to quell insurrections. The type of force required to win in Afghanistan. Although to do that, China would need to neutralise Pakistan. 

Both countries are nuclear powers, although I do have doubts about the effectiveness of the the Pakistani nuclear deterrent. I'd put money on China to win that bout if it came down to it.

So, let's see what happens next. Although we do need to grow balls and defend our borders and step up internal security. Not the creepy all-seeing security that makes criminals of everyone. But security forces targeted at those that would cause atrocities in this country.

Right now there are enough ex-Taliban fighters and sympathisers in the UK to cause an atrocity on the level of the Mumbai attacks. Just think what damage a group of gunmen could cause in a crowded London shopping street? Or (and the extremists have form for this too) a crowded shopping Mall? 

A handful of heavily armed fighters could kill hundreds of civilians. 

My advice is to avoid large shopping centres, especially in London and Birmingham for a while.

Those people we pissed off in the first hours of the invasions of Afghanistan, the people I've blogged about before will come for revenge.