Unless something is done the situation in Afghanistan will go from bad to worse and lets face it.
A solution must include the Talebans or at least parts of the movement.

The old warlords that got pushed out by the Talebans and that are in power right now is a bunch of corrupt tribal leaders that can´t cope with running the country and much less inspire the population to make an effort for the common good.
There´s a rumour that The Guardian of the two Holy Mosques will be asked to interfere and I can just hope that king Abdullah of KSA does accept an opportunity to help unite a sundered nation.

The situation right now with UAE as the only arab country with full units in Afghanistan also places extreme demands on our troops as they are called in wherever the situation is a bit touch and go in regards to the local population and their feelings.

You can try to include the Taliban. But IMO I think your gonna find them to be all or nothing in their mentality.

If they want to negotiate, it's because they need time to rearm, regroup and retrain their new guys.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

If they want to negotiate, it's because they need time to rearm, regroup and retrain their new guys.

And it is an opportunity for us to do some more infrastructure work and get some real intelligence to start rooting the terrorists out. Think about the Chinese symbol for danger, it also represents opportunity?

Well someone might do well to ask the population of Afghanistan who are not Taliban if they are willing to go back to living under the 3rd Century Jackassery that is the hallmark of the Taliban. If they are no problem. If they are not maybe we should just steady continue to send em to see Allah.

Because once you open the door the Taliban is gonna take as much as they can get, up to and including control of the country.....again.

Yeah but we should let the UCAVs do the work. There's nothing glorious about getting randomly blown up by unmanned, almost invisible flying things. Doesn't draw as many recruits or followers as "glorious" gun battles against the inflidels of the west.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Yeah but we should let the UCAVs do the work. There's nothing glorious about getting randomly blown up by unmanned, almost invisible flying things. Doesn't draw as many recruits or followers as "glorious" gun battles against the inflidels of the west.

But it generates as many enemies for those that survive, but lose innocent family members. Remember that this is a place where vendetta reigns, we should harness that and get the population working for us. However that means boots on the ground & getting rid of some of the corrupt warlords who rushed in to fill the power vacuum after the taleban, who filled it after the Russians, who filled it after the PDPA couldn't hold on, who filled the vacuum after the king was overthrown & so on.

Historically every effort to conquer Afghansitan has failed, because the invader tried to enforce their views on the Afghan tribes, this group of failures includes the taleban. Let them come up with their Afghan version of government, but we should help them with stability & peace to do it.

Get rid of the poppy fields.

Pay the farmers for it so they don't hate us more than they already do. The Taliban and other insurgents lose a main source of income. Get rid of a large portion of drugs that are screwing up our countries.

Get rid of the warlords.

What country in the history of civilisation has been stable when you have numerous groups all gunning to be the most powerful in the country through armed violence.

To be honest, the Taliban are the least problem. The country was ****ed up before they came to power. Allegiance is to the tribe/region, not the country.

Just because you have boots on the ground doesn't mean you won't have civilian casualties.
Just keep blowing them up from above until they get it right.

During millennia no outside force have ever managed to control Afghanistan using military means..it have always been a case of increasingly bigger losses by the occupying force.

And at one point they realise that they are sinking money and lives into a bottomless hole and leave.

The Talebans are not a homogenous organisations but rather a federation of Islamic schools that took upon themselves to unite a country totally wrecked by decades of warfare.
Thus they created their military organisation that actually was nothing to write home about, their success in taking over Afghanistan was because of their affinity to the Islamic schools which meant that they had the religious authority to issue holy judgement..like telling people to stop fighting and go home.