Quote Originally Posted by Hacksaw View Post
However, I don't see why we would deem people who blow themselves up as some new form of insurgency. Rather tactics, despicable in the sense that individuals are manipulated in such a way and certainly a difficult tactical challenge, but don't see how it fundamentally changes the way we think about COIN
I have to agree with Hacksaw here. An analog is the use of Kamikazee attqcks by the Japanese in WWII. Simply another way of attacking ships that required more air defense firepower to blow the plane completely out of the air before it could be flown into a ship.

Now, American perceptions that the Japanese would fight and die to the last person in defending the home islands caused the US to select a different strategic approach to ending the war in the Pacific--use a stand off attack of massive destructive capability rather than storm ashore and fight toe to toe in a conventional way. If all Afghan insurgents/Taleban were also suicide bombers, Van's point about a strategic difference would get more purchase, IMO. However, doesn't appear to be any compelling evidence for seeing the adversary from that point of view.