For previous generations, you could say much the same thing about Germany and the engineering and automotive sectors.
Afghanistan is an inhospitable place that doesn't have inherent qualities such as a skilled population, high population density, logistics channels, shipping ports, or a geography amenable to developing the above. They could become a major minerals exporter (there's believed to be a lot of lithium in Afghanistan, for example) but that would, at best, make Afghanistan more like nearby wealthy oil states.
If AF was smart, they'd partner with battery makers to value add instead of just shipping lithium out as-is. Better to build value. And, many dry inhospitable places are productive in the right terms, if you understand them. Look at the bone yards: Making good money, letting birds park there.
Removing fundamental womens rights is a very odd way of coping with the after effects of foreign occupation and battlefield effects. That aside, the revenge killings are concerning. After that, I support development of a modern Afghan economy as you would see from my original comment. Nothing about it was berating.
Not the commenter but it didn't seem like they were saying "hey, lay off the Taliban!". If they're anything like me, I think they're just tired of seeing the dire situation in Afghanistan[0] being used as a punchline, a little dunk you can slip into a comment for a cheap laugh and some upvotes. And the comment did come off a little bit like you were gleefully depicting the country as comically backwards and primitive.
I mean I guess it won't change anything if people do this, but it's just a bit disappointing to encounter it and remember the prevailing attitudes on Afghanistan and the casual dismissal of our own involvement there.
Totally. Despite the successive governments (state and federal) obsession with mines and sell direct from mining, the treasury, business development, industry and labour unions as well as business sector (not mining) continually beg for help to re-boot the industrial capacity to value-add that mine stuff.
The problem is, the miners can't be made to do this. It demands huge capital investment they have low to no motivation to fulfil.
> For previous generations, you could say much the same thing about Germany and the engineering and automotive sectors.
This is a great point. My grandfather landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day. He told some stories, but not all of them. He also drove a VW Beetle for years with no shame. Swore by them in fact.
My hope for the future is economic cooperation. Best I know that’s the most effective force for peace.
To be clear, I'm very much a layperson with absolutely no special knowledge or insight. I really don't know enough about Iraq to have an opinion.
But what I do notice is that Germany, Japan, Korea and Vietnam were all able to break free from feelings of anger and grievance against past enemies. Iraq (and Afghanistan) are populations rife with religion-fuelled and religion-adjacent grievances, pointing internally and externally. Sadly I don't have optimism for change.
Iraq and Iran have massive domestic economies, and established tertiary education. I have no reason to believe graduates from Iraqi uni are any less capable than the Iranians who work with me, or who I know work in Engineering and Health fields all over Australia. There are good AF graduates too, but fewer. They have less resources to fund tertiary education.
Iran is very much a different story. Grievance is largely held by the ruling classes and not the broader population. With the right leadership in place I could totally imagine a future where Iran is a trusted/respected member of the international community and a strong global trade partner.
I know Palestinians and Jordanians and probably Palestinians masquerading as Jordanians, who are examples of how you can work it out, once things calm down. Iraq won't be at war with itself forever, Kurdistan aside, (and its not like there aren't heaps of smart enterprises in Turkey, they sell world-class drones...)
I’m not a vet. I didn’t serve. But my perception as an ignorant plebian is that the fighting in Iraq was hard, but the fighting in Afghanistan was bitter. We pacified Iraq. Afghanistan hasn’t bowed to the will of the United Staes, the Soviet Union, or to anyone since or including Napoleon. Nobody wins a military victory in Afghanistan. The only hope is peace through economic compromise.
Afghanistan is an inhospitable place that doesn't have inherent qualities such as a skilled population, high population density, logistics channels, shipping ports, or a geography amenable to developing the above. They could become a major minerals exporter (there's believed to be a lot of lithium in Afghanistan, for example) but that would, at best, make Afghanistan more like nearby wealthy oil states.