Quote Originally Posted by Entropy View Post

We can build courthouses, we can train people to operate a judicial system and teach them the concepts of law, etc. All that is wasted if the Taliban can come in, post a bunch of night letters and assassinate a few judges as examples. If you can't prevent the Taliban from doing that, then what credibility do you have with the populace? Why should they trust your justice system if you can't even do that?
That is one point where the old Special Forces model would be superior to what is being done today. WE (USA) wouldn't being building, doing or fighting anybody or anyone except in immediate self defense. WE would be teaching the Afghans to do it through Guerrilla forces-CA units-and PSYOPS. If the Taliban showed up with a night letter they would get their throat cut by an.....Afghan village resistance fighter..... not a US soldier. In the old school the US wouldn't even use a term like "winning" because the mission is to teach the indigenous population to win not for us (USA) to win because if we did it would destroy the credibility of the local government. My 2 cents.