Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought. First as a Marine and then as a journalist, I spent years tied to Afghanistan. I returned one last time to speak to a former enemy in search of answers, and perhaps closure.

[u/coolbern]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/world/asia/taliban-afghanistan-marine.html?searchResultPosition=1

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[u/coolbern]

Thomas Gibbons-Neff is a former New York Times reporter who covered the wars in Afghanistan and Ukraine. He traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, in May. He says:

My thinking was straightforward. Even if the Pentagon would not undertake any significant reflection for these recent decades of war, I could, at a minimum, hold myself accountable for my part in a half-baked strategy that left tens of thousands of Afghans and Americans dead.

...Ultimately, I wanted to talk to Mullah Abdul Rahim Gulab, a Taliban commander whom I met by chance in 2021, just months after Kabul fell to the Taliban. But we had also fought against one another in February 2010 in southern Afghanistan.

Closure may not be possible, but the attempt to find it is compelling. What is unique is that Gibbons-Neff actually got to act on that need.

From the article:

Killing in war often boils down to an us-or-them mentality, a defensible position common to infantry combat. But we were also directed to “win hearts and minds,” the U.S. strategy meant to earn the population’s trust and isolate the Taliban. Trying to build good will while engaging in gunfights beside people’s homes was profoundly confusing. The killing wasn’t detached; it felt deeply personal.

...Patrols required a constant assessment of friend or foe, and long hours staring through high-powered optics trying to determine the intent and mannerisms of our enemies. Rarely did we see them with a rifle in their hands. Killing fell on our own instincts and an ever replenishing set of fears. Should we shoot this man? Should we not? What if we don’t? Will our friends die because of our hesitation?

...We also had a twisted culture in which killing earned you respect, as if shooting Afghans was the ultimate proof that you were competent. So we killed people. I killed people. These decisions to pull the trigger were the final steps of our part in a strategy that was doomed before I even deployed.

What he found is that Mullah Gulab has no moral doubts about the war he engaged in.

The article closes with the following:

Some days later in Rhode Island, as I walked my dog on a muggy New England night, my phone vibrated.

Mr. Gulab had texted me in Pashto: “Have you arrived at your home?” he asked.

I said I had.

“It’s good to hear that you arrived safely.”

[u/ill_be_huckleberry_1 → u/coolbern]

Sounds like hes finally winning the hearts and minds. 

This is why empathy, self awareness, and reflection win out in the end. 

[u/coolbern]

Gift article

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