Taliban pose no threat to the West

We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. - George Orwell

How appropriate the above quote is, because we live in a world, eight years after 9-11, where, through careful and persistent media and government propaganda, what was once just a band of goat herders whose only crime was flogging women who let their burkas slip and the unforgivable sin of banning the growing of opium, is now synonymous with terrorism and al Qaeda. And how conveniently we ignore the fact that Afghanistan is their homeland, and that we are the invaders, and we call them terrorists just for having the nerve to refuse to bow down and lick the boots of a foreign occupation. I'm not saying the Taliban are good people, but, being over there, slaughtering innocent men, women and children, American troops aren't behaving any better, even if they are just following orders.

We don't belong there. Al Qaeda is (was) a database of CIA mercenaries. Bin Laden isn't even wanted for 9-11, and is dead regardless. Face facts: our troops are there to keep the Taliban from burning the opium crops. If that's difficult for you to stomach, consider that the more we spend to supposedly combat the heroin trade, the more heroin flows out of the country - the heroin trade sets fresh records every year now. This money of course funds the Taliban. It also makes a lot of money for the banksters funding this war to begin with. If we really wanted to stop the heroin trade, do you really think we're incapable of burning the opium fields? If we were there with the objective to defeat the Taliban, why would we allow the heroin trade which funds them to continue? The answer of course is, the objective is not victory, it is sustainability. So the Taliban are terrorist al Qaeda, and a massive threat to the West, even though they never were before we invaded. Whatever.

Reuters -

The Afghan Taliban pose no threat to the West but will continue their fight against occupying foreign forces, they said on Wednesday, the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that removed them from power.

U.S.-led forces with the help of Afghan groups overthrew the Taliban government during a five week battle which started on October 7, 2001, after the militants refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11 attacks on America.

"We had and have no plan of harming countries of the world, including those in Europe ... our goal is the independence of the country and the building of an Islamic state," the Taliban said in a statement on the group's website www.shahamat.org.

"Still, if you (NATO and U.S. troops) want to colonize the country of proud and pious Afghans under the baseless pretext of a war on terror, then you should know that our patience will only increase and that we are ready for a long war."

U.S. President Barack Obama has said defeating the militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a top foreign policy priority and is evaluating whether to send thousands of extra troops to the country as requested by the commander of NATO and U.S. forces.

In a review of the war in Afghanistan submitted to the Pentagon last month, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, in charge of all foreign forces, said defeating the insurgents would likely result in failure unless more troops were sent.

There are currently more than 100,000 foreign troops in the country, roughly two-thirds of who are Americans.