The Taliban: They're baaaa-aaack

Ragtag Taliban Show Tenacity in Afghanistan

Six years after being driven from power, the Taliban are demonstrating a resilience and a ferocity that are raising alarm here, in Washington and in other NATO capitals, and engendering a fresh round of soul-searching over how a relatively ragtag insurgency has managed to keep the world’s most powerful armies at bay.

The mounting toll inflicted by the insurgents, including nine American soldiers killed in a single attack last month, has turned Afghanistan into a deadlier battlefield than Iraq and refocused the attention of America’s military commanders and its presidential contenders on the Afghan war.

But the objectives of the war have become increasingly uncertain in a conflict where Taliban leaders say they do not feel the need to control territory, at least for now, or to outfight American and NATO forces to defeat them — only to outlast them in a region that is in any case their home.

What's good about this article is that it goes into detail about the hierarchy, leadership, territory, and aims of the Taliban/al Qaeda movement that's attacking us now from Pakistan. Though it also tries to describe the Taliban in terms reserved for plucky teams of little leaguers who made it to the big dance to face their rival from the rich section of town. Ragtag? Tenacious? No 'impish', 'scamps', or 'irrepressible rogues'?

But in showing us what's going on now it illuminates our past failures in Afghanistan and how moving to Iraq so soon largely crippled our efforts. Look at some of the names that pop up: Mullah Omar, Haqqani, and Bradar. These three were in power when we invaded, they were never found, resources were diverted to Iraq and they were free to build back up and commence attacking again.

Furthermore they're using some of the same techniques and allies as they did during the Soviet conflict. You know the one where we went through Pakistan's ISI to arm and train the mujahedeen. Boy, that's a gift that keeps on giving. Unless we decide that fighting this war in Afghanistan is the important one, the one we need to be committing resources to, then this cycle is going to repeat again. We were literally pulling special forces out of Afghanistan to go to Iraq when we had bin Laden holed up in Tora Bora. We let Omar and Haqqani waltz out of the country. Now they're re-organized, killing our soldiers, destabilizing Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, and stronger than ever. We're still dicking around with the phrasing for far off troop reductions in Iraq. Horizon? Timetable? Drawdown? Responsible withdrawal? Magic disappearing troop illusion? Doesn't exactly well you up with hope.