As STRATFOR pointed out at the time, the Taliban were never defeated by the U.S. invasion in 2001/02, they largely declined combat in the face of overwhelmingly superior military force. They simply moved out of the way of U.S. and NATO forces and adopted classic guerrilla tactics which they had been using over the last several decades.
Yes, decades.
Count the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the civil war which followed and now almost 10 years fighting the Americans.
So, do we have 10 years of experience in fighting the Taliban or do we have 10 one year’s experiences. Maybe even only 20 six months of experiences.
The Taliban are a diverse, dispersed insurgent force with multiple command centers and locally autonomous leaders. The Afghan Taliban leadership group, known as the Quetta Shura, has exercised significant authority in recent years over Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.
The current fighting in southern Afghanistan with the Marines is another example of the Taliban avoiding major head on battles. They continue to slip away with a well rehearsed rear guard.
As a friend of mine said a lot of us have the picture of the Taliban as backward, 7th century, uneducated, resourceful, sophisticated, committed, creative, funny dressing, religious fanatics…
That may be but given the Afghanistan resilience, the cross border sanctuary and the U.S. declared withdrawal date in 2012, all they have to do is wait.
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I’m just an old 50’s guy who spent his 3 years in the U.S.Navy and then 29 years on the Police Department trying to make a difference in the community. I’ve always thought of my service time as “an adventure, not a job” as the old Navy slogan went. I’m proud of all the times and things that I was involved with but I cannot for the life of me, understand WHY the military think they have to announce, sometimes months in advance, their time table and agenda of when they are going to enter an area and capture or rid the enemy…as 43 did when going to Iraq to get Hussein…and just recently the surge in Afghanistan to hunt the Taliban/AlQueda…Whatever happened to “sneak attack” or covert operations? The media should not even be told anything about any upcoming programs or operations…then they can’t blabb it all over the tube and everyone in the world knows that computers and state of the art cell phones are being used in the Mountains and desert areas where were are trying to find these enemy combatants…kinda makes you think the White House doesn’t want to attain any kind of victory. Oh wait, Obama never ever mentioned victory in his campaign rhetoric speeches, that I can recall. Let’s hope something changes soon for the better so that our service personnel can be proud of their duty and come home with their heads held high knowing they did the right thing and accomplished the right agenda for these people.