Thread by @AliVelshi

1/15
After 20 years, the footprints of American boots on the ground in Afghanistan have faded away. While a majority of American’s think that’s a *good* thing for America and its soldiers, the people of Afghanistan are now living lives of palpable uncertainty. #velshi

2/15
38 million Afghans are waiting, fearful, to find out how their latest rulers will govern. Spoiler alert: it will not end well for anyone who does not believe exactly what the Taliban believes in. #velshi

3/15
That’s not America’s fault, but we have played a central role for the last twenty years by starting something we could not finish. The question now for America is what do we do about it? #velshi

4/15
One thing that is abundantly clear is that the Taliban, which is trying to rebrand itself, cannot be trusted. Which puts America, and other democratic nations, in a tough position. #velshi

5/15
Global religious-based terrorism remains a major threat, and America’s military leaders have said they might need to coordinate with the Taliban to fight terror groups, like ISIS-K which, unlike Al Qaeda, is an adversary of the Taliban. #velshi

6/15
The Afghan people still need our help, since that country can’t currently exist without outside aid, so that may require some collaboration with the Taliban, as well. #velshi

7/15
So, the challenge becomes: how to establish a relationship with the Taliban without normalizing the barbaric religious fundamentalists and their rise to power. #velshi

8/15
The Taliban is a brutal, extremist group - no matter how many times its leaders claim to be going down a more moderate path. If we want to know what a Taliban government looks like, we just have to look back at the group’s last reign in Afghanistan. #velshi

9/15
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban promised to put Islamic values first. But the interpretation of those so-called “values” turned out to be merciless, barbaric, and theologically wrong. #velshi

10/15
As the New York Times puts it, “In 1996, the Taliban declared an Islamic Emirate, imposing a harsh interpretation of the Quran and enforcing it with brutal public punishments including floggings, amputations and mass executions…” #velshi

11/15
“… And they strictly curtailed the role of women, keeping them out of schools.” Not only do the Taliban dislike those of other faiths; they murder their own; kill fellow Muslims who don’t subscribe to the same extremist ideologies as them with abandon. #velshi

12/15
Religious freedom - freedom of any kind, really - does not exist in a country governed by the Taliban. The Taliban can never be an American ally, and we can never give them the patina of legitimacy. #velshi

13/15
There are some governments in this world that are just empirically evil & the Taliban is 1 of them. The group does not have a single redeeming quality as a legitimate government. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was inevitable. But America’s next moves are critical. #velshi

14/15
There are plenty of governments in the world that are anti-democratic without being outright demonic. Afghanistan’s new Taliban government is made up of barbarians who lead in the name of a faith that they have perverted. #velshi

15/15
We must find some way to support the Afghan people, stave off terror, while preventing the Taliban from joining the ranks of legitimate governments and the privileges that that will bestow on them. #velshi