Afghanistan for Dummies

Google ( your friend.. LOL ) Wikipedia History of Afghanistan. Its all there in nice easy to understand language.

This is a great BBC documentary from 2015 about all things related to the wider geo-political disaster scenario mainly involving Afghanistan

Ok,

This is very watered down for brevity.

The past:

The Taliban was formed in 1994 in response to the Afghan civil war after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Afghan groups were heavily backed by the US as a strategic geo-political move due to Russian occupation of Afghanistan....in a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of relationship.

The Taliban pretty much only became a household name due to their relationship with Al-Qaeda, and the subsequent NATO coalition operations following on from 9/11....hence the invasion.

Afg is a Muslim country, with Sunni being the predominant sect of Islam. This is a key piece of information as any Sunni terrorist organisation or indeed country, will support the Taliban, and capitalise off their autonomy over the populace and the country itself.

The "westernisation" of Afghanistan is over, archaic and strict Islam will be followed. While Taliban leadership has overtly stated that no reprisals will occur towards anyone who co-operated with NATO, and that women will be treated better, this is most likely a PR move to let things settle and mitigate against an aerial campaign of ex NATO military stockpiles.

The future:

As Afghanistan will be declared as an Islamic Emirate, we may see it being a hub for extremists, similar to Syria a few years ago with regard to Islamic State.

The release of prisoners and detainees from Afghan prisons will aid to strengthen the Taliban in the short term, not to mention the significant amount of military equipment left behind by NATO.

However, there may be additional conflict due to competition for recruitment and resources with the local Islamic State branch, or Islamic State Khorasan Province, despite being allies.

For now, the Taliban will rebuild (mainly their influence) in the region, with pledges already from China and Iran for co-operation.

For Iran, they already have a close(ish) relationship with Afghan citizens. Iran sponsor, train and pay Afghan and Pakistan militants for service in Iranian proxy militias in Syria and Yemen, under the Liwa Fatemayoun and Liwa Zaineboun militias.

It is possible that Al-Qaeda cells in the MENA region will gain strength from official Taliban rule. "Congratulations" messages have already been sent to Taliban leadership. It is very possible that this will lead to increased vitality in regard to EU terror attacks as Afghanistan will replace Syria/Iraq/Africa as a strategic Jihadist hub due to less "western" oversight.

Not sure if any of that helps.

A good source of quick digestible content is the youtube channel CaspianReport. The host Shirvan Neftchi is based in Azerbijan

Another commentator on the region is Brazilian journalist Pepe Escobar who write for the Asia Times.

Some facts about Afghan society.  i) most afghans can't read, only 1 in 3 women can read, ii) 1 in 10 are opiate users, iii) only 1 in 20 can speak English, iv) most girls marry before age 18, v) Paedophilia with young boys is socially acceptable.

A 2013 survey found 39% supported suicide bombing and 99% supported Sharia being the national law.

Source: https://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/

From what I've read this rather over-simplifies things as the Taliban's version of Sharia Law would be far more hard-line form (and many Muslims would argue a deliberate misinterpretation) of what the majority of those that follow Islam would recognise i.e. the majority of that 99% would not be in favour of the Taliban version of Sharia...

I'm no expert but have been reading a lot about Afghanistan's history and the history of the Taliban over the past few days (mostly Wikipedia tbh but some interesting articles being shared by some of the war correspondents on Twitter atm too). In answer to the OP's question, there really doesn't seem to be a "for dummies" guide: the situation in Afghanistan is extremely complex and, from the looks of it, many of those who should have had a good handle on the situation on the ground quite obviously didn't (or were ignored).

Right Sharia is a very broad system and a supporter of Sharia could easily be against extreme aspects but many aspects of Sharia were the law in Afghanistan without the Taliban. It was already an Islamic republic under the Americans. It was already the case that a daughter is only entitled to receive one third of the inheritance of her brother or brothers. In practise they often get nothing. Now the Taliban's version is far worse but varies a lot locally.

which documentary? one of the ones already referenced, or did you mean to include a link?

very interesting info from everyone.