USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

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Stardate 20011121.0610 (On Screen): Mullah Omar had a dream that he'd rule Kandahar forever, and now the Taliban have announced that there will be no further retreats and that they're going to fight to the death to defend what they still have. It's not clear that Omar is actually in a position to enforce that decision in Kunduz, since I don't think that the Taliban forces there are still taking orders from Kandahar. Also, I'm not sure I credit this "dream" story; I think that Omar is trying to stop all the defections of Afghan Taliban. But despite that, I have to say that, all things considered, I'm glad of this decision.

It does mean more hard fighting ahead, and that a lot of it is going to be city fighting -- and that is bad. It may force us to start bombing those cities directly, and to accept a huge civilian casualty toll -- and that would be worse. (Fortunately, I think that is unlikely.) It probably means that the US will have to use substantial ground forces. But it also solves a number of political and propaganda problems, if it's true. It means that there won't be the problem between the US and Northern Alliance if the NA made a deal with the Taliban to let them go so as to evacuate a city or area. The US and NA are not allies; rather it happens to be the case that for the moment their interests and ours are congruent and both sides benefit from cooperation. But those interests could diverge again, which would complicate the situation. This Taliban announcement postpones that. It also means that the US won't have to face world opinion who says "They're trying to give up -- why not let them escape? Give Peace a chance!" We're not there to let them escape; the forces we're discussing are primarily al Qaeda, not "Taliban" in the traditional sense, and the primary reason we're fighting this war is to eliminate al Qaeda. If the result of this war is to shift al Qaeda from Afghanistan to somewhere else, it may be good for the NA but it's useless to the United States. Now that won't happen.

The US is fighting al Qaeda. The Northern Alliance is fighting the Taliban. As long as al Qaeda cooperates with the Taliban, it will continue to make sense for for us to cooperate with the NA -- and that is good. (discuss)

We're not fighting to get peace; we're fighting to eliminate a sworn enemy. Peace is a reward, not a goal; if peace were the goal, we'd surrender.