Maybe if you were raised in a village in the mountains and were being attacked by Pakistanis you'd be more nationalistic.

Man he's not even talking about that shit. This is LIEberal propaganda. Guy is just talking about how great America is, and how we'll solve all his problems. That's what I think he was really saying, anyhow.

This guy on the video? He barely mentions America, and when he does, it's in the context of collaboration with his enemy. Even if any of that were true, how is "America is great and should solve the problems of foreign nations" liberal propaganda? Isn't that what we're ostensibly doing under a conservative administration? I don't follow you at all.

He isn't telling the complete truth either, actually he's hardly telling any truth at all. There's no doubt that Pakistan is tormenting his people, but embracing the ideals of the Taliban isn't exactly the way. They guys are sexist, fascist and nationalist. It's a shame that this was the first idealogy that went into that country in an attempt to unify them along national grounds.

They are also not on friendly terms with one another. They murder and rape each other over tribal squabbles.

The low-down:

http://bcjournal.org/2008/religious-extremism-and-militancy/

the mixed feelings thing wasn't a joke, i mean there are some ups and some downs you must surely admit

what i'm saying is that one always wants to side with the people who want their own country, because, you know, come on. it's reflexive. but at the same time, this is a masked man in the forest with a gun, capable of propounding for several minutes without interruption that his ethnic group owns such and such a territory and will not suffer any other ethnic groups to be in said territory. this may bode ill for any civilians of a different ethnic group who have been living in this territory, should such a nation be formed. one also gets the impression that his characterization of the conflict may not be entirely on the level.

I see what you mean. I want to believe that their attempt at nationhood is just. Before the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan was 51% Pashtun and had been controlled by Pashtun for centuries. This person's rebellion is as much an inter-ethnic struggle for dominance as it is freedom from the grasp of its neighbors and foreign influence.

An interesting, revealing and concise way of summarizing the way Pashtun militants see the world is perhaps with this little linguistic quirk:

zar - gold
zan - women
zamin - land

The three are both attached to a man's honor and to a man's downfall, paradoxically.