Support for self-determination does not require supporting every anti-occupation force

Evidence

The same is true of Afghanistan. Leftists must support the right of the Afghan people to self-determination and consequently stand opposed to the US occupation. However, the Taliban, who are leading the struggle against the US/NATO occupation, are neither a genuine national liberation movement nor an anti-imperialist force. Based among the Pashtuns, who constitute about 40 percent of Afghanistan’s population, the Taliban is a highly sectarian organization that has little appeal beyond this ethnic group. Its narrow and rigid interpretation of Islam, which favors Pashtun cultural practices, has little to offer the Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, and other ethnic minorities. In fact, non-Pashtuns seem to prefer the United States to the Taliban. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 366

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does this principled distinction survive the Afghanistan withdrawal debates of 2021 onward, and does Kumar refine it anywhere later?
• XREF: connects to: Resistance of colonized peoples merits support regardless of its form. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 361; Common oppression does not necessarily unify the oppressed — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 335

Broader Connections

• Common oppression does not necessarily unify the oppressed #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 335