If the Afghan army had been made up entirely of women, would the Taliban have succeeded?

I think bringing western men into a debate about the Taliban is appalling.

If the Afghan army had been made up entirely of women, would the Taliban have succeeded?

Yes, and even faster.

The type of urban fighting that is needed to take the key cities is brutal and highly physical. It's the role of the infantry, and in all armies women are either not infanteers at all, or are so in pretty limited numbers and restricted roles.

I don't quite see what you're getting at with the rest of the post

I think the Afghan army had basically been trained to fight using American capabilites. One of the main advantages they had over the Taliban was air support. When the US started to withdraw, they took all this support with them pretty much overnight. Afghan army was basically left high and dry.

I do agree though that a lot of men are probably pretty happy to see women put back in their place, as probably a lot would be over here.

The Yazidi female army did us all proud so...maybe not.

Then again, it often comes down to leadership. The national army leadership fucked right off and left a military body with no head, and it's not really a shock that the headless body then fell down.

I've wondered this too.

I understand that for anyone to keep them at bay they would have needed air support though.

Depends what made the Afghan army collapse. You can't help thinking that the women have got more to fight for and less chances of doing dodgy deals. But demoralisation is powerful and lack of equipment more so.

No.
The Taliban and other insurgents have had a hold of fear for decades, long before it became known to the rest of the world. Just like them taking over again now hasn't happened over night and has been on going for a long time even with military support from other countries. If anything power would have gone back to them sooner because of the barbaric treatment of females never mind the soldiers who have been caught over the decades.

It wasn't only the Army the UK/USA helped to train and supply weapons to but also those they are fighting against.
Look into mujahadeen, and Soviet forces from the early 80's.

The Afghan army had no technical support, no resupply, no food and no wages. How the hell could they have put up a defence?

Women wouldn't have done any better.

I vaguely remember reading about female soldiers in China and how the fighting was all the more ferocious if the enemy realised they were fighting women - a combination of the shame of losing to women and the lust of brutalising and raping them. I can’t remember the specific conflict as I blocked a lot of it out. But no, I don’t believe that a women’s army would have been more successful against the Taliban.

"If the Afghan army had been made up entirely of women, would the Taliban have succeeded?"

Why would you think this given women are a lot physically weaker than men? Or do you think the Taliban would go easier on their military opponents if they were female (I don't)?

" a combination of the shame of losing to women and the lust of brutalising and raping them."

Yes this. If the Taliban lost to a female army and word got out to the world, they would probably hide in a cave and never show their faces again. They would fight 100x harder to ensure they didn't lose.

I think bringing western men into a debate about the Taliban is appalling.

The Incel movement is made up of western men and has aims similar to the Taliban.

I’m wondering why the Afghan army didn’t fight back
Then you need to try to imagine the situation from their point of view - not what you think you would have done if you were them.

The Taliban are determined to take the country and they will never quit. They are well funded. Its not one battle that will be won or lost.
You find out that the US is leaving. So who is going to supply you with ammo next week? Or food? How do you earn a living while you are fighting this never ending battle?
If they put down their arms now, they can join the Taliban and live. If you were them you'd do exactly the same thing, because the alternative is to exhaust yourself fighting then die anyway.

Maybe I'm naive but I sort of assumed one of the reasons the army disintegrated so fast was that the men knew their wives and kids were at home unprotected. So duty and the greater good or looking after your own.

How could they have won any faster?

By expecting easier and quicker victories - they would have planned the whole campaign differently, in the expectation of taking cities with minimal fighting.

Everyone expected more fighting, and possibly some areas not gained boosting morale if the Afghan army and emboldening their fight.

There would not have been the possibility of defeating the Taliban if pitching female infantry against male, and the collapse would have been even more rapid - remember they have been fighting in regions all year, the final advance on Kabul could have been months earlier

"I sort of assumed one of the reasons the army disintegrated so fast"

I watched a video on Youtube* about the American invasion of Iraq in the first Gulf War (to get Iraqi forces out of Kuwait). The first few lines of defences the Americans had no resistance and found that all the Iraqi defenders instantly surrendered.

Apart from being outnumbered; it turned out the Iraqi soldiers were hungry, had crap equipment and didn't particularly care for what Saddam wanted and didn't want to die for him. It wasn't until the Americans reached the inner layers of defences they met resistance.

Maybe the Afghan soldiers were also hungry and had poor equipment and thus weren't willing to put in 100% effort to fight off the Taliban?

(It's from channel The Operations Room if anyone's interested.)

Um, there have been tons of Afghan men at the airport, desperately trying to escape. Some of them have lost their lives in the process. I don't think we can assume that most Afghan men are happy to have been taken over by the Taliban. The evidence that we have seen over the past few days simply doesn't support that.

^ I'm wondering how the current protests in favour of the national flag are part of this. There will be many different local and individual attitudes, beliefs and loyalties playing out and being balanced.

Afghanistan as a country exists only because the British drew lines on a map to create it. In reality it's a huge area with lots of different tribes with different cultures and even different languages.

So asking the Afghan people to fight for something they're not attached to is a stretch,.

That's a very strange question.

The taleban are ruthless. They will kill anyone who they see as an enemy. Male or female, with their swift advance. Fighting back if they win is a death sentence. And if only women in their family. Women aren't allowed to work. No money. What happens to their wives and daughters? Not worth thinking about.

Weigh up the odds. What do you do?

And some are still fighting. In the North I think. Made some gains. They will have to fight to the death. Because they're dead anyway.

I find your question rather crass tbh.

These are men fighting each other for. Around the world. Land. Power. Ideology. Control.

No army in the world is made entirely of women. If Afghanistan was a country that would have a 100% female army then it would be a totally different country and world.

What's your point OP?

Men are bigger and stronger than us on the whole. They have been in charge globally for as long as we know. They have always wanted to control us and have done so.

Your proposition is s thought experiment? A sci fi thing?

It's crass. The taleban regime is brutal. Men women children will be murdered. Raped. Tortured. Public executions. And just more and more.

So what's your point here?