Quote: (09-26-2015 10:11 PM)Big Nilla Wrote:
Now, the possible problems with this is the Taliban is splintered, they still harbor foreigner terrorists, and they are into opium/heroin trafficking. But hey, nobody is perfect.I'd send out feelers to the Taliban if I were Russia and Iran. I'm imagining a Russian-aligned arc of Egypt/Syria/Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan. Another issue that I'm not sure about is Pakistan. They used to support the Taliban and now they're fighting it, but is there a distinction between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban? Would Pakistan get on board with the Taliban in power, again?
It's something to consider from a Russian perspective.
There is definitely a distinction between the Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban. The former is just a creation of various intelligence agencies, maybe involving the ISI itself, just like ISIS. Whereas the Afghan Taliban was created and trained by religious elements of the Pakistan Army in order to serve as freedom fighters during the Soviet invasion.
And yes, Pakistan would be on board with the Taliban gaining power in Afghanistan because the current Afghan regime is hostile towards Pakistan whereas the Taliban have always been in sync with them.