https://archive.rustgeek.me/tags/broken-borders/ Recent content in Broken-Borders on A Geek's Life Hugo en Fri, 27 Aug 2021 05:47:16 +0000 https://archive.rustgeek.me/2021/08/27/cautionary-tales/ Fri, 27 Aug 2021 05:47:16 +0000 https://archive.rustgeek.me/2021/08/27/cautionary-tales/ <p><img loading="lazy" src="https://notesofalostson.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/skynews-afghanistan-kabul_5487320.jpg"><em>Image Copyright <a href="https://news.sky.com/">Sky News</a></em></p> <p>**</p> <p>Hailing, as I do, from a corner of the world in which colonization has left its mark in more ways than one, I cannot help but see the stark similarities between <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Afghanistan-War">the Afghanistan story</a> and that of my <em>other</em> country. Two podcast episodes from the <em>Rest is History</em> podcast (<a href="https://play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/87.afghanistan-part1">a general one</a> and one <a href="https://play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/88.thefirstanglo-afghanwar">specifically focused on the First Anglo-Afghan War</a>) provided some context to the history of the country, dotted as it has been with inter-tribal frictions and the burden of being prized as a gateway location. The similarities appear to be more than superficial: both countries have had <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-dividing-of-a-continent-africas-separatist-problem/262171/">borders drawn on the back of envelopes</a> splitting tribes between countries, have fairly well established Islamic insurgencies  and have significant deposits of natural resources. There is also the British (read East India Company / Royal Niger Company) connection too, the tip of the spear by which both regions were economically exploited.</p>