The Taliban in Afghanistan have published an attempt to reason with “the American people, officials of independent non-governmental organizations and the peace loving Congressmen.” This “Letter of the Islamic Emirate to the American People” attempts to open a dialogue with American citizens. I happen to be an American citizen.

You realize that your political leadership launched a military invasion of our country 17 years ago.

It’s kind of funny in itself that we have to be reminded that we’re still fighting a land war in Asia. With hostilities and exercises increasing along the DMZ, American troops “embedded” with Al Qaeda and the YPG all over Syria, several thousand troops remaining in Iraq, and an order of magnitude more special forces “advisors” and private military contractors scattered about the Ukraine, Yemen, and God knows where else, …forgive us for losing track.

This invasion was not only contrary to the legal and national norms of our own sovereign country but also a violation of all international rules and regulations, but still the following three main points were put forward by your authorities to justify this illegitimate invasion:

Establishing security by eliminating the so called terrorists inside Afghanistan. Restoring law and order by establishing a legal government. Eradicating narcotics.

Mission Accomplished! Right? I don’t know. Where’s Afghanistan on a map again and why are we still there?

Even though it is not the duty of America to draft laws and suggest systems for other countries but nevertheless, the second excuse of George W. Bush for the invasion of Afghanistan was to establish a supposed legitimate government.

Amusingly, this illegitimate and illegal war of ours in Afghanistan was actually our most legitimate one. Every conflict after Afghanistan was pursued by our deep state through a loophole in our declaration of war against Afghanistan. Say what you want about what actually happened on 9/11, but Al Qaeda took ownership and OBL was tight with the Taliban. As such, a good hearty razing of Afghanistan’s terrorist monkey bars training camps seems like it was justified.

You play international warmonger games, you win international warmonger prizes.

The problem here is that these Islamists are just as globalist as the Zionists. The Taliban’s striking a disingenuous posture here, acting like they’re standing for sovereignty and identity in this open letter while being as committed as America’s military-industrial lobby to threatening the sovereignty and security of foreign peoples. The Taliban’s aligned with ISIS and Al Qaeda against the Ba’ath Party in Syria, just as they were hostile to Iraq’s Ba’ath Party.

Ultimately, the gordian knot of alliances and entanglements in the Islamic world isn’t something we would have to give a damn about if the Israel Lobby weren’t dragging the American people into the middle of it. But to the extent that circumstances require us to care, I’m aligned with the nationalist forces that are focused on defending their own people than about pursuing some fantastical global caliphate.

But despite seventeen years of war costing thousands of American and coalition lives and billions of dollars, such a system has taken root in Afghanistan which has achieved the following administrative, legal, military and political records: Number one internationally in administrative and financial corruption. Number one internationally in violating human rights. Number one internationally in usurping of land and embezzling international aid. Number one internationally in violence against women, etc. etc.

When even the Taliban is scolding your record of violence against women, …that’s when you know you’ve made an ass of yourself.

According to the data provided by UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes) – prior to the American invasion – poppy was cultivated only on 185 hectors land of Afghanistan and only in areas controlled by anti-Taliban forces whereas the level of heroin addiction among Afghans was next to nil. But following the American invasion of Afghanistan, poppy cultivation skyrocketed from 185 hectors to 328,000 hectors while under the shadow of seventeen year occupation, the number of drug addicts has reached 3 million people.

I don’t know why they’re wasting their time writing the American people about that. The same government and corporations doing that to them are doing that to us, too. Your best bet here, Taliban, would be to write to Purdue Pharma and ask them to have their lobbyists have the military crush their competition for narcotics. Unlike the American citizenry, Congress actually listens to the drug lobby.

Your authorities proclaim that tens of billions of dollars have been spent on various reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Of course this is the same money which is collected from you as taxes and revenues, but here it has been distributed among thieves and murderers. Do you agree that the hard earned money of your labor should be wasted on such a corrupt system where in only one criminal case, $900 million were stolen from Kabul Bank by corrupt officials?

Look, Taliban. We voted in 2008, 2012, and 2016 for the candidates who promised the most humble foreign policy. But we just keep getting more wars we don’t want. We’re pulling the democracy lever, but the lever’s broken.

Is this the civilization, modernity and rule of law proclaimed by you in the world?

Okay, guy. Calm down. Please understand that the actual American people aren’t going around bragging about how wonderful our country is. We’re not the ones making these decisions. If you were to walk up to the average American on the street and ask him if he thinks America should be imposing its system and values on foreigners, he would tell you that we need to fix our own country and its worsening problems before trying to save the rest of the world from itself.

The American people were sold the Afghanistan war as a swift punitive response where we would catch Bin Laden and hold him accountable. We had a hell of a time finding him, and it turns out that our key ally in the war on terror, Pakistan, was actually harboring him the whole time. Whoops.

Were your 3546 forces killed in Afghanistan to establish and empower such a system?

Afghans may find it amusing that the soldiers who don’t get killed while over there get treated with the utmost suspicion and contempt by our own government. They’re often radicalized and become anti-government on account of what they see, and our intelligence services focus heavily on monitoring our combat veterans. I don’t blame them for coming home disgruntled. I’m disgruntled from merely reading about this bullshit, much less living it.

I understand the Red Dawn case for attacking the invaders, but I implore the Taliban to defeat America with calendars instead of bombs. And if you must keep busy, focus on damaging infrastructure instead of taking soldiers’ lives. Bear in mind that our military-industrial complex is far more sensitive to financial costs than the loss of its soldiers’ lives. Those soldiers who you see as invaders are often great guys who are as caught up as you are in a struggle they never asked for.

Can your scholars, intellectuals and unbiased analysts produce an answer to our questions?

Afghans aren’t going to get anywhere with this if they continue believing that the American government and its propaganda are synonymous with the American people. The vast majority of our nation, like the vast majority of every nation, don’t have the time or inclination to develop a nuanced position on foreign affairs. But even at the dive bars, barber shops, and what few family meals still occur, the general American opinion is that we need to bring our troops home from all of these “nation building” projects.

We must state that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan undertakes legitimate efforts for the independence of our homeland. Having a sovereign country free from any foreign occupation is our natural and human right.

Once again, the Taliban disingenuously leans on the language of nationalism and sovereignty despite having an imperial ideology. President Trump plays the same game, talking the nationalist talk while walking the imperialist walk. In many ways, the Islamists and the Zionists deserve each other, and it’s in the rest of the peace-loving world’s interest that the two remain at one another’s throats.

It is worth mentioning that we have no agenda of playing any destructive role in any other country and we have practically proven over the past seventeen years that we have not interfered in any other country.

The Taliban has been too busy trying to recover its own sovereignty in its home country to have an opportunity to achieve its imperial ambitions lately. What the Afghan people deserve is a Taliban that’s as nationalist as it pretends to be when it’s on the back foot. Within a few years, the Taliban will assuredly have its country back, as America’s eager to refocus on exciting new wars elsewhere. My advice to the Taliban is to not make the same globalist errors which invited the storm in the first place.

Likewise we will not allow anyone else to use Afghan territory against any other country.

This seems to be a roundabout admission of guilt for supporting Al Qaeda’s toxic mission all those years ago. What’s amusing is that the United States is now actually allied with Al Qaeda in Syria against an authentically nationalist Islamic state. What were G.I. Joe villains last week are our deep state’s strategic partners the next week.

After gaining independence, we would like to have positive and constructive relations with all countries of the world including our neighboring countries.

The 21st century belongs to those who are allied together against fanatical imperialists of all stripes, including those who aim for a Greater Israel and those who aim for a “global caliphate.” The Taliban can back up their claim to be the legitimate government of the Afghan people by reconnecting with their pashtunwali spirit of Hewaad and also respecting the sovereignty and identity of nations beyond their borders.