Can the Taliban be defeated?

[kenwickham]

Many would say that trying to change their ideoligy doesn't stand a chance. So are we trying to kill every Taliban in existance or batter them into submission? The Russians failed miserably in Afghanistan for 10 years and now every year that the coalition is there the situation gets worse and worse.

Maybe we could try a different tack. Civilians are killed daily, the women are unhappy at being forced into a backwards religion, schools are blown up and teachers shot and beheaded. It can't go on!

During WWII children were evacuated from large towns and cities to the countryside. Maybe we could attack the problem in reverse. Evacuate the small villages and send the children with their mothers to Kabul, etc. Instead of 150,000 Afghan soldiers romping the wastelands they could be used to fortress Kabul.

The Taliban could then be left to implement their Sharia law in the deserted wastelands left only with those who agree with it. The coalition troops would then have nothing to do so could return home. </SPAN>

[DC]

This would essentially break Afghanistan in half, which I don't think many people see as desirable. Another issue is that that leaves the Taliban still freely operating over what is quite a large area, and as far as know the main reason for the war was to deny Al Qaeda a safe base of operations provided by the Taliban. The Taliban could renew this arrangement if given control over a large enough area.

In addition to this you have obvious logistical problems. The women and children you are moving have no source of income apart from their fathers and husbands, so we assume that they'll have to go with them. But then they still have a massive issue in that these people are farmers, they don't have skills for urban living, leading to even more unemployment and its resulting issues. And it doesn't matter how strong your defences around Kabul and other major centres are, the Taliban will still get bombers through.

Can the Taliban be defeated? Yes. But it would require huge amounts of resources and soldiers to do so, essentially billeting every village with soldiers to defend it 24/7, and for them to act as a liaison for what those villagers require in terms of aid (wells, medicine, etc) to win them over.

Will the Taliban be defeated? No. No country requires the will, or these days even the resources, to man such an effort. The UN could perhaps do it if many member states combined for a joint effort, but that would require political will from those countries that currently doesn't exist, and the UN to actually grow spine at some point.

[soloman]

This would essentially break Afghanistan in half, which I don't think many people see as desirable. Another issue is that that leaves the Taliban still freely operating over what is quite a large area, and as far as know the main reason for the war was to deny Al Qaeda a safe base of operations provided by the Taliban. The Taliban could renew this arrangement if given control over a large enough area.

In addition to this you have obvious logistical problems. The women and children you are moving have no source of income apart from their fathers and husbands, so we assume that they'll have to go with them. But then they still have a massive issue in that these people are farmers, they don't have skills for urban living, leading to even more unemployment and its resulting issues. And it doesn't matter how strong your defences around Kabul and other major centres are, the Taliban will still get bombers through.

Can the Taliban be defeated? Yes. But it would require huge amounts of resources and soldiers to do so, essentially billeting every village with soldiers to defend it 24/7, and for them to act as a liaison for what those villagers require in terms of aid (wells, medicine, etc) to win them over.

Will the Taliban be defeated? No. No country requires the will, or these days even the resources, to man such an effort. The UN could perhaps do it if many member states combined for a joint effort, but that would require political will from those countries that currently doesn't exist, and the UN to actually grow spine at some point.

Before we will find a solution to this problem, we need to deal with what Afghan farmers can grow to provide for their existence. Opium production I believe continues as the income is huge. Even the Taliban tried to ban its production about 10 years ago but failed!

[kenwickham]

////This would essentially break Afghanistan in half///

But this is exactly whats happening now. There are those Afghans that support the Taliban and the others would like to see the back of them. Unfortunately they live side by side and we are unable to distinquish between them so the high rate of civilian casualties as they are caught up in the middle.

///that that leaves the Taliban still freely operating over what is quite a large area///

Its not the size of the area that is the most important but the size of the population that can be removed from a sparse area into a safe one where schooling is the norm and where teachers can feel safe.

[keepitlow]

No, I don't think they can be defeated.

The US is talking about negotiating a deal with them. If the US just used drones and had no foot solders on the ground the deaths could be cut down.

But as long as Islam is alive, their goal of world domination is on their agenda.