Internal Condition Is The Basis Of Change

145

Many people ask the question why the USA with all its military might cannot crush the Taliban.

It is important to note that a chicken cannot emerge from a stone but from an egg. This is a clear indication that the internal condition of a thing determines its outcome.

It is important to note at this point that war is a continuation of politics when the parties in dispute cannot resolve the dispute through negotiation and resort to war. To analyse a military situation one also has to consider the political forces at play in order not to err in drawing conclusion.

The Taliban irrespective of its nature, in essence prosecuted a nationalist programme, claiming that that the US led forces are occupation forces that have to be expelled; and they won this propaganda war. This is the first point to note.

Secondly, the regime in power was inept and corrupt and had not shown any capability of bringing prosperity.

Furthermore, no soldier, not anyone, not even the former president was ready to die in defence of the regime. Governors would rather handover power to the Taliban than to put up a fight. The much larger force of 300,000 Afghan armed forces with all their advanced weapons and training could not face a much smaller Taliban force with lighter weapons.

The consequence is the Taliban marched to victory with little or no resistance and the collapse of the regime.