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George II

(67,782 posts)
Sat Oct 10, 2020, 01:34 PM Oct 2020

The Taliban on Trump: "We hope he will win the election" and withdraw U.S. troops

Source: CBS News

BY SAMI YOUSAFZAI

OCTOBER 10, 2020 / 12:07 PM / CBS NEWS

President Trump's reelection bid received a vote of support Friday from an entity most in his party would reject: the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told CBS News in a phone interview, "We hope he will win the election and wind up U.S. military presence in Afghanistan." The militant group expressed some concern about Mr. Trump's bout with the coronavirus. "When we heard about Trump being COVID-19 positive, we got worried for his health, but seems he is getting better," another Taliban senior leader told CBS News.

The Trump campaign's communications director, Tim Murtaugh, said in a statement to CBS News that it rejects the Taliban's support and that the Taliban should know President Trump will always protect American interests by any means necessary.

The Taliban's enthusiasm for Mr. Trump is grounded in the goal they share of getting U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after 19 years of war – a longtime promise of the president.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/taliban-on-trump-we-hope-he-will-win-the-election-withdraw-us-troops/?__twitter_impression=true

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Eugene

(61,592 posts)
6. The statement is tone deaf from an American perspective, but it is likely genuine.
Sat Oct 10, 2020, 03:17 PM
Oct 2020

The spokesman is real, and Trump is offering the Taliban (and Putin) everything they want. The Taliban may have misjudged American politics, as the statement may backfire. The Taliban might be trolling however, if they think their advantage is unsurmountable.

This wouldn't be the first time an adversary expressed a preference in U.S. politics. Iran has cursed Democrats as "nothing but trouble."

JonLP24

(29,322 posts)
7. I think Iran probably prefers Democrats to Republicans
Sat Oct 10, 2020, 03:24 PM
Oct 2020

But they probably don't like America overall considering the history but as far as the Taliban I know you can't kill an ideology. The Ottoman Empire tried that.

Ottoman - Saudi war

(Snip)

Most of the political leaders were treated well but the Ottomans were far harsher with the religious leaders that inspired the Salafi movement, executing Sulayman ibn Abd Allah and other religious notables, as they were thought to be uncompromising in their beliefs and therefore a much bigger threat than political leaders. The execution also reflects the Ottoman resentment of the Wahhabist views.[4]

This war had formed the basic hatred against the Wahhabi ideology among the Ottomans, and it continued to influence even modern Turkey when Turkish Islamic preachers consider Wahhabism to be non-Islam; virtually the whole Turkish population is anti-Wahhabism. For the Saudis, who would form the nation a century later, the Saudis considered it as the first struggle for independence from the oppressive Ottoman Empire, and the current state of relationship between Saudi Arabia and Turkey is still influenced by this hostile past, whereas systematic campaign by the Saudis to rewrite the Ottoman past was denounced in Turkey.[7][8]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_War

The wahhabi's backed or still back the Taliban in Afghanistan.

JonLP24

(29,322 posts)
3. Regardless of what Trump or the Taliban wants
Sat Oct 10, 2020, 01:40 PM
Oct 2020

We really need an exit strategy for Afghanistan. We have been there way too long.

mdbl

(4,972 posts)
12. this should be do-able since we are now destroying all of our wildlife preserves
Sat Oct 10, 2020, 08:28 PM
Oct 2020

and coastal waters to frack or drill for our own oil.

mdbl

(4,972 posts)
15. Hasn't that been the reason we are in the Middle East?
Sun Oct 11, 2020, 05:12 AM
Oct 2020

Why else would our nation deal with a backward culture with terrible human and women's rights led by a religious state?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-03-18-0203180046-story.html

EX500rider

(10,517 posts)
16. Afghanistan is in central Asia, & the story u posted is from 2002...
Sun Oct 11, 2020, 04:20 PM
Oct 2020

....and we haven't built and are not going to build any pipelines from or thru Afghanistan, why would we?
They have no oil and I don't think we have been at war there for 18 years so we could build the Russians a pipeline to Iran or India..

The why was to keep the Taliban out of power as they allowed Al Qaeda to plan 9/11 from there.

mdbl

(4,972 posts)
17. Well, the time passing seems to have obscured things
Sun Oct 11, 2020, 08:10 PM
Oct 2020

but whatever. I watched it all as it was happening.

beastie boy

(9,056 posts)
8. With David Duke, the Taliban, Uncle Vlad and assorted domestic terrorists all on Trump's side,
Sat Oct 10, 2020, 03:26 PM
Oct 2020

I am beginning to believe Headly Lamar from The Blazing Saddles is real and he is Trump's 2020 campaign manager.

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