David Rohde's Insights Into What Motivates the Taliban

The New York Times' David Rohde writes about the seven months he was held hostage by a group of extremist Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan and conveys this observation about what motivates them:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/18-7

 

New:

I've been reading excerpts from this piece. He also describes the Taliban as brutal, evil, and deeply hypocritical. They blame the US for all sorts of problems.

They do the exact same things to others that they blame the US. Furthermore he describes the Taliban as very poorly educated, with no access to outside sources of information, other than the information their leaders provide to them.

Your excerpt from an article which describes an involved and complex situation is incredibly one sided.

Rohde, who was captured by a duplicitous lying Taliban leader does not spare the Taliban of intense criticism. He in no way supports their positions.

Afterall he did escape and continuously refused to bow to their efforts to "convert him".

New: Yours is a very twisted portrayal of this article. The article does try and bring light into how different people think around the world.

Nobody in Taliban world is going to allow the Taliban to read the entirety of this set of articles. It would damn them.

 

Yup. But not only. The focus is put on three characteristics of his captures:

cruel and evil

greedy criminals

paranoid intractable and extreme people.

nothing new with new... like the George Washington this will probably be another thread where new walks from one to the other just in other to be slapped in the face
new is just not adapted for life in the 21th century. He can't understand what he reads/sees. Its simply amazing.
new. The middle ages are over. People don't believe anymore any bullshit they're told. Unless their name is new, I mean.

 

yes
but as he said the reason for the evil and bad behavior of Taliban is US itself

further the point is that Taliban are always portrayed as the villains before the world, whereas the usa is the hero, so if usa is doing the same as Taliban than how-come anyone ca support usa aggression and label Talian as 'terrorists' ?

the purpose of this is not to for goo any crimes done by Taliban but in fact to highlight the double standards of us and west, when it comes to their own Govts and Muslims

 

In our country armed robbers have the same PR problem. The media are always saying "Armed robbers kill family"... "Armed robbers steal payroll"... but they never report the good stuff they do. I've yet to see a story where the media says "Armed robbers rescue kitten from tree". Damned biased media.

 

armed robbers are those who have invaded and attacked Iraq and Afghanistan coming from thousands of miles away

read again what I highlighted

One of the most astounding feats in propaganda is how we’ve managed to take people who live in a country which we invade, bomb and occupy — and who fight against us because we’re doing that — and call them “Terrorists,” thereby “justifying” continuing to bomb and occupy their country further (”We have to stay in order to fight the Terrorists: meaning the people who are fighting us because we stay”).

 

This is the most typical of the Arabs of today. The huge sicknesses of their primitive societies: its the west's fault.
new really believes that had the US did not even exist the Taliban would have called for equality, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy, science, and feminism
lol

 

Hey New... I'm looking forward to hearing you explain how our invasion caused the Taliban to commit atrocities long before we got there. No doubt you are too young to recall the cruel shit they were doing to fellow Muslims when they ran the joint. [Hey, don't feel bad, it's common for gullible children to idolize bad guys that've been built into folk heroes.]

HINT: Do a google search for news from 2001 and before. Include the words Taliban and stadium. Maybe you'll figure it out. Ignorance is curable, but you have to be willing to learn.

 

New:

What you have presented is a lie. The author, David Rhode did not write that piece.

You took an article from Salon, and then outrageously combined commentary from a different writer with one paragraph written by Rhode.

Its an outrageous and twisted presentation of his story. Your presentation is a lie.

Rhode hated his captors. He was initially lied to, then kidnapped by the Taliban leader who told him he would agree to an interview.

Rhode reports how the Taliban lied to him throughout the ordeal. He describes how his captors terrorised him and his Afghani associates. He describes how the Taliban captors cheered when they watched news of a Pakistani mosque being bombed with about fifty non Taliban Muslims dying.

They cheered the deaths of other Muslims. I repeat. They cheered the death of other Muslims.

You misrepresented this article in its entirety. You took an article written by someone else who quoted one paragraph by Rhode and then inserted all the other author's perspectives.

Frankly, you are a fraud.

 

There's a shock. Not the first time New has shown he considers accuracy entirely inconsequential so long as a tale fits his hate filled agenda. Good job New. Again.

 

I am sorry, I didn't notice that it was a mix of stuff by David Rohde & Glenn Greenwald as it was there at the salon link

and you again tried to highlight wrongdoings of Taliban, but this does not absolve america and nato from the crimes which they have done .. does it ?

were there any attacks on mosque and suicide bombings before the usa decided to 'free' the Afghans ?

this land has already defeated two so called world powers in recent history i.e. UK and USSR, hopefully the fate of current aggressors will be same

@robjone
come on
you attack a country that lies thousand of miles away, overthrow their govt
make military bases
kill people
bomb places
install a puppet Govt

and when confronted about it you say it 'hate filled agenda' ?

hate filled were those who attacked Afghanistan in 1st place, those neo-zionosts who want to export their version of 'freedom' to other countries

 

As indicated by your *accidental* use of someone elses words inserted into David Rohdes mouth and your inability to read what I just wrote, you need to work on that reading disability.

I asked how a US invasion could cause the Taliban's evil actions when they were already doing evil actions before we arrived. Answer the question.

 

who will decide what is evil and what is not
people of Afghanistan or you ?

 

I suggested you do a google search since you are obviously too young to have any idea what the Taliban did before the invasion... but I guess that was too much work and wouldnt support your agenda anyway. So here's what I'll do, I'll give you a much need history lesson.

The Taliban wouldnt have been in power in Afganistan at all except that we helped them when the USSR invaded. When the USSR was out they ended up running the place, we suddenly were no longer friends, just infidels. We might have actually let the people of Afganistan do their own dirtywork and remove the Taliban or live with their bizzarre cruelty... since it wasnt our problem, but 9-11 changed that.

When we found out the planners of the attack were living in Afganistan, our country told the Taliban we wanted them. A snotty little putz that should never have opened his mouth haughtily explained on behalf of the Taliban that they were "guests" and it wouldnt be polite to turn them over to us. We didnt take kindly to that answer, especially from assholes that would've been Soviet citizens without our assistance. We asked nicely and they refused, Not coincidentally they no longer control that upholstered third world outhouse they once called their domain.

Thats how it works in the real world. Disgusting pukes stuck in the 16th century who shoot little 8 yr old girls for the crime of going to school do not talk to the US like that if they want to remain above ground. If thats a problem for you, welcome to how it really works. It doesnt pay to hide people that screw with us. No charge for the reality check. Have a nice day.

 

you were discussing how evil Taliban were for the Afghan people, you mentioned the stadium incident and now you bring 9-11 , what twisted mind?

people in Afghanistan live by the rules set by Americans or by the rules they want to live ?

don't try to export you 'freedom' to those who don't want it

and I didn't know that in America they also teach you to discriminate on basis of age? is this also one of those 'moral values' which Taliban lacked ?

and you don't even know if I am young or old

 

Stadium incident? LOL. You still didnt check out what I was talking about did you. It wasnt an "incident". I wont say more... look it up.

You cant keep a story straight, you accept and spread any story no matter how implausible as long as it meets your bigoted world view (this thread, the George Washington thread)... in short you start threads that merely prove your own lack of knowledge. Even when directed to historical data that you should know if you're gonna discuss the topic you choose to remain uninformed.

As for me discriminating on age... here's the deal. I do discriminate against stupidity. I know kids that are smarter than adults and they are treated as peers. Kids that act even younger than their age are treated as what they are... uninformed idiots that have no business discussing the topic, much less starting threads to spread their lack of understanding.

 

so what you said didn't had anything to do with Taliban giving punishment to women in stadiums?

in fact you were complaining about the Taliban treatment of women and punishments and you twisted to 9-11 when asked if it id the Americans who decide what laws are to be made and followed in Afghanistan

 

I didnt twist to 9-11, i said we might have LET the taliban thugs stay in control of Afganistan if they had turned over the 9-11 hijackers when they were told to. Instead the simpletons that wouldnt have been in power without our help got cute... and then they lost their little country to a superior power as a result.

Like I said... it doesnt pay to hide people that screw with us. They figured that out, just too late.

 

so why you complained about stadium incident ?
you equated Taliban 'evil actions' before Americans with it but when asked to elaborate ran to take refuge in 9-11.
never mind it happens

and US did not save them from USSR, US only jumped in to throw money and stuff when they saw the potential, when there was already a indigenous resistance being offered to USSR and it was not only US which offered helped, A LOT OF help was received from Arab World, ME and Pakistan

 

The US did save their butt. Sorry, you get to have your opinions but not your own facts.

I did not refer to a stadium "incident". I said the Taliban was involved in evil well before we invaded, and told you to do a google search on news items 2001 or before using the words "stadium" and "Taliban". If you think that refers to an incident instead of a practice of wholesale murder, then you can add "too stupid to use Google" to your resume.

Dang, do I have to spoon feed you the info or is it just that you enjoy staying uninformed?