| Honestly I just felt like they got more done with fewer people and less money, which is a good indicator of a level of focus that can you can only accomplish if you don't have to worry about the friction of dealing with corrupt layers of an organization or a crapload of waste. I'd read a long time ago about how the Taliban basically formed a shadow government in parts of Afghanistan that provided justice, schools, roads, and other services because the current government couldn't do it. Just found a good article about it: https://odi.org/en/publications/life-under-the-taliban-shado... Here's the PDF it references: https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/12269.pdf People flocked to the Taliban's shadow government precisely because it was (at least seen as) less corrupt and more efficient than the services propped up by U.S. and its allies. In the PDF above if you search for corrupt you find the word 7 times in the body of the article, and 6 of those are in regards to how the Taliban fought it. The article is old (2018) but I think that's the point. They were very organized in how they built their network and we saw the results of it as they ran circles around the U.S. in negotiations both with Trump and Biden administrations.[1] To me it's a crystal clear example of a less corrupt, less wasteful force completely schooling one with exponentially more resources. [1] https://www.factcheck.org/2021/08/timeline-of-u-s-withdrawal... |