Since the war in Afghanistan began in late 2001, three successive presidential administrations have claimed that the Taliban are on the verge of collapse, the Afghan military is close to securing the country, and Afghan leaders in Kabul are just one step away from providing legitimate governance.
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Strategika Issue 48: U.S. Military Policy in Afghanistan
Discussion (2)
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Afghanistan is now completely Islamic, regardless of what happens to the Taliban, or where they are. The Afghan military is simply another form of the Taliban, except they are not considered "extreme". The Afghan leaders are as Islamic as any leaders in any other Islamic country, except they are pretending to be, well, nice. Afghanistan has gone to the Muslims, along with Pakistan, Bangladesh, and in the not too distant future, Sweden and Myanmar. There are still genuine Afghani in the mountains fighting for their land, but who cares about them. Besides, they have become the new 'rebels', and we know what the world, especially the U.N., thinks of 'rebels'.
I have gotten the opposite message: that we must be wary of the upcoming "Spring Offensive," that we're losing in the hinterland and that the Afghan president is mostly "The Mayor of Kabul." I'll take it as a good sign that we just keep on keepin' on in AfPak with light casualties, gradually wearing down an insurgency [as inevitably happens] until we look around and can aptly say: "Ummm........I think we won."