Quote Originally Posted by IntelTrooper View Post
...I found myself empathizing with the Taliban. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is one of the major roadblocks to establishing lasting security and governance in Afghanistan.
"As it was in the beginning, is now ..."
As Shmedlap and others have pointed out, we have two competing insurgencies struggling for control. One of them is savvy, plays on the emotions and sympathies of the masses, has an effective IO campaign, and an extensive support network. The other is clumsy, dishonest, elitist, and insenstive with an ideology that resonates with few people...
We, the US, do have a knack for getting into similar situations again and again. We seem to have done that about once a generation since 1898. One would think there'd be a message in that but apparently not.

In any event, I expect little real change in Afghanistan; our opponents are more patient than we are while temporary and expedient deal making there has been the way to go for 3,000 years. We'll do what we can and it will be better than it was when we arrived...