The Taliban had enough fighters to defeat the demoralized Afghan security forces. Do the Taliban have enough loyal fighters to hold Afghanistan?
I think there were just 70,000 Taliban for the offensive that took Kabul. Are there more in victory or fewer in disillusionment available to hold and pacify the population?
The veteran Taliban fighter once strove for martyrdom on the Afghan battlefield of what he considered an Islamic revolution.
But the Taliban insurgency’s lightning victory in August has yet to bring a long-promised paradise, says Rahmatullah. Instead, he fears, it’s revealing internal divisions, even resentment.
“We struggled and fought in extreme poverty. Now our leaders are ruling and have luxury cars and lots of facilities, but the majority of mujahideen don’t have salaries and their families are worse off,” says the fighter, who uses one name.
“Some of the lower echelons of the mujahideen are now wondering, ‘What was the benefit of our struggle, and why did we fight?’”
Our once-allies who lost to the Taliban are likely still organizing. It takes time to regroup and learn to fight like insurgents instead of as armies and police.
Normally you impose sanctions or blockades on enemies to put them into the mess the Taliban are in already. Can we restrain impulses to send money to the Taliban, which will be used to pay off their fighters to keep them happy?
We can absolutely circle back and resume the fight after we get our people stranded in Afghanistan out.
