“As I understand the Talibans’ motivation, they strive to establish a society guided strictly by Islamic principles. I presume they really do act on that motivation even though they grow and export opium, which we here consider to be a crime. I presume the the Taliban don’t perceive any moral contradiction at all, because Islamic scriptures do not explicitly prohibit growing and exporting opium.”

The original Taliban (going by the story of the birth of the Taliban which is, of course, their own story,) was begun by a local mullah, a religious leader who was sick of a local warlord taking sexual liberties with local youth, particularly boys. According to the story, he recruited a local force and they stormed the warlord’s place and killed him. At the time, Afghanistan was in turmoil, with many such injustices happening in various localities, and the group quickly became a movement.

If we grant this story a certain amount of credence, the Taliban did start out to serve a decent purpose. In Afghanistan, patriotism and religious correctness go hand in hand. A leader is judged not only by his policies but by his apparent piety.

My observations are that some of the Taliban leadership have bought into the expediency of drug funding, but at the local level the name ‘Taliban’ is used by those who really have no connection with any righteous Islamic cause; they are criminals who find it expedient to use the fear and the legitimacy of the Taliban legend to their own purposes.

The early strength of the Taliban was in their homespun rebellion against corruption. One of the major early efforts of the Taliban was to clear the highways of thieves who shook down travellers for ‘bakhsheesh,’ literally, ‘gifts.’ The favor that this won spread and many young men joined the Taliban to free their country of the corruption of the drug warlords and the various types of organized crime, including the local officials.

It is possible that some young men join the Taliban to this day due to some kind of religious fervor, only to be slowly bent in the direction of thuggery and crime. The religious authority granted the Taliban by the local illiterate oral history buffs still brings benefits, but many Afghans who do not benefit from the drug trade see the damage wrought by drugs that never make it out of the country.

I’ve seen a man having what appeared to be a siezure right in the Provincial Police Headquarters compound. When I approached and asked if he was sick, the Afghans nearby gave a dismissive gesture that amounts to “what’s a person to do?” while simply explaining, “Tarak, tarak.”

“Opium, opium.”

Another issue:

“I think, is that it has been possible for the family unit to survive and prosper economically because over the centuries, they have been able to grow enough food to feed themselves, and escape, periodically, the cycle of stealing from each other to make ends meet.
If we could figure out a way for the individual and his family to “make it” economically (without the poppy) in Afghanistan, this might go a long way to forming a ‘nationalist’ culture, which would break the tribal looter and banditry culture cycle.” — E. Nigma

Whoa. While there is a culture in which banditry happens, it is not because Afghans are incapable of supporting families as a whole. Family is a very deeply held value among Afghans, although there are exceptions to the loyalty made at certain times, as when a male dies and his family is occasionally not assumed by another male relative for whatever reason.

While there is pervasive corruption in Afghanistan, the typical Afghan villager is held accountable by his village. Theft on a local level is more rare, by my observation, than in America’s culture where shoplifting is very common.

Banditry exists in Afghanistan for the same reasons that it existed in the American West; the lack of strength of local authority, or the corruption of local authority. This includes complicity. The Police in Afghanistan have a nasty habit of shaking down the travelers who pass through one of their checkpoints.

While the Afghans have some strange practices and family values that include the honor of women while simultaneously selling females or using them to pay debts of honor, I believe from my observations that your assertions are lacking substance. “Tribal looter” sounds primitively substantive, but I did not see groups of people victimizing their neighbors nor sweeping through areas and looting, as this term evokes.

Here’s something that has been helping Afghans develop a national identity; roads.

Everywhere I went, Afghans were Afghans. Pashtuns, Tajiks, Nuristani, and Pashayee all live pretty much the same. As they travel about more freely and especially as they do business with each other, the old walls come down.

The ANA is another institution breaking down barriers and forming a national identity from tribal, local, and familial identities.