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西方在阿富汗的失败不言而喻

Sep 7, 2021 Nancy Qian

芝加哥—美国从阿富汗的撤军已经吸引了全世界的注意。那些被美国及其盟友所抛弃者的混乱、痛苦和普遍的悲伤已经招来了强烈的批评。20年战争、数万人的生命以及高达2万亿美元的投入都不足以重建一个新的阿富汗似乎令人感到难以置信。

许多人已经指出了与西方崩溃有关的罪魁祸首。但许多人却不情愿触及到最根本的问题：那就是缺乏共同的阿富汗民族认同感以及由美国领导的联盟对培养民族认同感所抱有的疑虑。

一定程度的普遍民族认同感是保障国家正常运转的必须。通常按照宗教、种族或语言界限来划分这种民族认同感，而上述界限有时恰恰明确为了国家建设的目标而创立。例如，在19世纪，普鲁士人创造了日耳曼民族的民族认同感，并将其推广到他们不断扩大的疆域。新德语虽与古老的高地德语相关，但在普鲁士人试图建立一个新的德意志民族之前却并不真正存在新德语。18和19世纪法国和意大利的国家建设分别也遵循了类似的路线方针。

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The Great Collapse

The Taliban's stunningly swift return to power after 20 years of fighting American-led troops and the Western-backed Afghan government raises profound questions about the future of Afghanistan, the region, and, most importantly, America's role in the world. Has the graveyard of empires claimed another victim?

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Theodore D'Afflisio Sep 12, 2021

I wonder how the author ever expected that the U.S. could possibly have created a common sense of nation. we were the outsider, the foreigner, whereas political culture is something internal. Even the example of Germany, Pan-Germanism or Pan Slavism makes that point - you are dealing with the same cultural contours; there is a base on which to build a common sense of nationhood. And even if you look at the nation-state in Europe - Cavour never really succeeded in creating Italy otherwise we wouldn't still be talking about the Mezzogiorno; nor did Franco in Spain where Catalonian independence still rears its head. How could America be expected to create a sense of Afghan identity? We were an occupying force largely unschooled in the languages, tribal customs or ethnic divisions in the country. I find this paragraph utterly incomprehensible.
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Gerry Hofman Sep 8, 2021

The nonsense just carries on. The United States went to war to punish Afghanistan for hosting Bin Laden's base in that country. There was no other reason. Everything that's been mentioned as further reasons and targets are just made up after the fact to make it look sooo much better than it was.
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Bernhard Kopp Sep 7, 2021

On the Germanic ethnic identity the author seems to be pretty far off. It actually began with the very Germanic " Holy Roman Empire " in 962. In the 14th century it was officially named " Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ". The German language got very much unified through the translation of the Bible into the German language by Martin Luther, published in 1534. The specific political developments in the 19th century built on then almost 1000 years of history. That is why the Germanic ethnic identity in German speaking Switzerland and in Austria is not materially different from the one in Germany proper.
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西方在阿富汗的失败不言而喻

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