Taliban and Afghanistan

The Taliban controls large sections of the southeastern countryside. U.S. and Afghan forces go out to villages and the Taliban disappear. They leave and the Taliban return. The Taliban drift back and forth through these sections of Afghanistan and take refuge in Pakistan in areas that are largely controlled by the Pashtun tribe instead of the Pakistani government. It is like putting your finger in water and withdrawing it.

If you are an Afghan villager, what would you do? You would cooperate with whoever was there doing your best not to cause any enemies, knowing that when the U.S. or national Afghan soldier was gone, the Taliban would be back.

A story in the AP Press covers this can be found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060503/ap_on_re_as/afghan_taliban_threat_1

The province of Orusgan, is close to falling. The new governor of the Province, Maulavi Abdul Hakim Munib, controls only a small area around Trin Kot.

Taliban militants evidently move almost freely through the countryside in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. They also are strongly present in parts of Zabul, Ghazni and Pakika provinces.

There are increased ambushes and bombs along the road between the main Kabul-Kandahar highway.

U.S. focus is both on military operations and on building local relationships. However, I would question the value of the local relationship building. If I were a resident of the provinces, I would have heard that British troops will soon be replacing U.S. troops in this part of Afghanistan. Thus a local relationship with U.S. troops might not mean much if they will soon be replaced with British troops.

For an article on General Eikenberry's efforts at local relationship building see the account of his visit to Lagman Province in the Washington Post at the following link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302372.html?nav=rss_world
Listening to what the locals say, however, is very good.

Although his efforts are commendable, I wonder if this is somewhat like to redecorate a ship that has hit an iceberg. It seems like one needs to plug the hole. The Taliban are flooding in.
A brave front and strong, courageous personality is not enough.

All of that being said, plugging holes between a mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan may be like plugging holes along the U.S. - Mexico border. It is alot more difficult to do than to say. This is especially true when you are using a small mobile force that can only go from place to place on an emergency basis.

HarleyDad