waz
ADMINISTRATOR
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2006
- Messages
- 21,159
- Reaction score
- 91
- Country
- Location
-Taliban does not control even one of Afghanistan's 50 largest cities & town.
-Afghan govt controls 50% of area and Taliban only 15% (rest is contested)
-Taliban does not have a single aircraft or heavy weapons. Meanwhile ANA has super tucano attack planes, helicopters and transport air craft. Taliban haslve Zero APCs , ANA has hundreds.
- Taliban is not recognized as ruler by a single country but Afghan givt is recignizwd by all and is the one holding Afghan membership at UN.
-Afghan govt revenue is 50 times larger than Taliban.
-Afghan govt runs a 50 times larger and modern admin setup and orgs than Taliban.
Afghan 'control' is a mirage, US commanders have highlighted this. The Taliban controls the rural areas and has the ability to cut supply lines at will, and also strikes cities with impunity. You don't need to hold cities to show your presence, read up on guerrilla campaigns.
On the right are areas controlled and contested by the Taliban. The left your claim (from US/Afghan government figures) that it controls 56%.
Here's the true picture;
But that assessment relies on statistical sleight of hand. In many districts, the Afghan government controls only the district headquarters and military barracks, while the Taliban control the rest.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/08/world/asia/us-misleads-on-afghanistan.html
The article is full of undeniable facts. Just yesterday the Taliban attacked up and down the country.
The ANA has all these weapons but with their losses and rapidly reducing manpower, fewer men to man them and even fewer trained to use them. Just ask yourself the question why is the USAF still conducting airstrikes, because the ANA is very limited in conducting CAS or strikes by themselves.
The power structure will have to change and there will be a new government, the present government may be recognised, but with the Taliban directly negotiating with the US this has sealed their status as a power broker and part of the country.
50 times the revenue? The country's economy is broken dude.
Now how about you answer the question, without coming up with all your stats, on why the US left the Afghan government out of the deal and spoke to the Taliban directly.