this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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In both cases, useful idiots say "If we just let them win, it will be easier to defeat them by the Spontaneous Uprising Of The People(tm)!" (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 weeks ago by PugJesus@lemmy.world to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Got a source for “got the majority of its recruits from Pakistan”?

Sure.

https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/cscoal/2001/en/52887

According to the United Nations Special Mission in Afghanistan (UNSMA), the Taleban and Northern Alliance have a typical strength of 30-40,000 fighters on each side. Both sides can mobilise approximately 80-100,000 soldiers during crisis periods, but these forces levels are difficult to sustain.1

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pakistan+Taliban+Policy+1994-1999.-a0292423798

Pakistan has had to pay a heavy price for the chimera of strategic depth in Afghanistan. Nearly 60,000 Pakistanis died in Afghanistan.

Also while you seem to focus on Pakistan, Saudi Arabia also had a lot to do with their early success, having for example funded the madrassas the Taliban would later recruit from.

I mean, that's certainly true, but not even close to Pakistan's contribution.

On the other hand, in agreement with the broader point of blame, Saudi Arabia has invested a massive amount of resources in radicalizing impoverished Muslim countries worldwide by funding extremist mosques and schools under the cover of innocuous religious support.

That aside, they were founded, led and supported by Afghans. At worst I’d call them co-opted Pakistani puppets, which is different from being straight up Pakistani paramilitaries.

I guess we're in the realm of semantics here. I would posit the question, though, with a theoretical example:

EDITED FOR A BETTER COMPARISON AND ALSO I JUST REALIZED THIS IS LITERALLY THE CASE IN SYRIAN KURDISTAN

If ethnic Turkmen living in Iraqi Kurdistan formed a paramilitary group, with their leaders having been educated in state schools in Turkiye and trained by Turkish military camps, getting the majority of their recruits from inside Turkiye, not Iraqi Kurdistan, receiving direct support in the form of both materiel supply and seconded troops and commanders from the Turkish military along with independent supporting strikes from the Turkish military, and advocating policy positions which conveniently line up with Turkish desires for Iraqi Kurdistan...

Would you call them Turkish paramilitaries, Kurdish paramilitaries, or Iraqi paramilitaries?

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 4 weeks ago

Yeah fair enough.