Reading the assessment of the challenges facing the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan just penned by Stan McChrystal – the Army general and Afghan commander fired by President Obama last June for speaking out of school to a reporter for Rolling Stone – makes you realize just how keenly he views the foe:
While a deeply flawed insurgent force in many ways, the Taliban is a uniquely 21st-century threat. Enjoying the traditional insurgent advantage of living amid a population closely tied to them by history and culture, they also leverage sophisticated technology that connects remote valleys and severe mountains instantaneously — and allows them to project their message worldwide, unhindered by time or filters. They are both deeply embedded in Afghanistan’s complex society and impressively agile. And just like their allies in al Qaeda, this new Taliban is more network than army, more a community of interest than a corporate structure.
For the U.S. military that I spent my life in, this was not an easy insight to come by. It was only over the course of years, and with considerable frustrations, that we came to understand how the emerging networks of Islamist insurgents and terrorists are fundamentally different from any enemy the United States has previously known or faced.
In the latest issue of Foreign Policy, McChrystal eyeballs the Taliban and details how he thinks they can be defeated.
