Who's supporting the Taliban?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2021
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Taliban’s relentless march across Afghanistan continues – taking control of provincial capitals, rural districts and the financially lucrative border crossings. As the world watches on with increasing concern US President Biden has told Afghan leaders that it’s their battle to win and that they need to come together and fight for their nation. The female Afghan politician and diplomat Shukria Barakzai warned this week that her country is experiencing a ‘human catastrophe’ and Afghanistan will provide a safe haven for militants, which will cause the world huge problems. There’s also the prospect of a huge refugee crisis.
But how are the Taliban succeeding and who’s helping them?
David Aaronovitch is joined in The Briefing Room by:
Laurel Miller, Director of International Crisis Group’s Asia Programme Ashley Jackson, Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Armed Groups Ahmed Rashid, Pakistani journalist and author
Producers: Ben Carter, Sally Abrahams and Kirsteen Knight Sound engineer: James Beard Editor: Penny Murphy
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David O'Ronovich. You, me, top experts, 28 minutes and a big issue of the day, which this time is Afghanistan. |
| 0:16.5 | The Taliban are advancing across the country, capturing town after town from the government. |
| 0:21.6 | But who exactly is backing the Taliban? |
| 0:28.2 | This week, President Biden told the Afghan people to fight for their country against the advancing Taliban. |
| 0:35.6 | But ever since his announcement of American troop withdrawal, |
| 0:38.7 | the Islamist rebels have been advancing. |
| 0:41.3 | It's all happened faster than anyone predicted. |
| 0:44.3 | A well-armed and well-trained Afghan army |
| 0:46.6 | is apparently being outfought by a patchwork insurgency. |
| 0:51.1 | Since the results will certainly include a refugee crisis and might well mean safe havens for terror groups, this week I want to know who is backing the Taliban and why. |
| 1:02.7 | Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:08.9 | Western Allied forces, predominantly American, |
| 1:11.6 | removed the Taliban from power 20 years ago this autumn. |
| 1:15.4 | But the Taliban never went away, |
| 1:17.6 | and now are stronger than at any time since 2001. |
| 1:21.8 | We asked Ali D'Atefi, a journalist born and currently working in Kabul, |
| 1:26.3 | to remind us of the history of this unique organization. |
| 1:32.3 | The Taliban really came to be in response to the civil war of the 1990s. |
| 1:38.7 | That civil war saw different jihadi factions |
| 1:42.5 | who had fought against the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, |
| 1:47.0 | who had freed the country from Soviet occupation. |
... |
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