<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="auto">Why have the Taliban been able to conquer Afghanistan so quickly, although they were hopelessly outgunned for almost 20 years as the article in the Atlantic describes ("Brother... it's too cold to jihad") ? It seems as if Afghanistan exists only in two stable modes: tribalism where the country is divided among clans and tribes, and radical Islamism in form of Taliban rulership. Both are among the oldest forms of political order forms according to Francis Fukuyama (who wrote two books about the development of political order which I am currently reading)</div>https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/what-i-learned-while-eavesdropping-on-the-taliban/619807/<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-J.</div></body></html>