Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
Sylvan,

AWK does feature in the commentary, this is one part:

On my read AWK's role does feature.
I spent 5 months in Kandahar City (not KAF).
Shirzai is the popular leader for most of KC. Karzai's powerbase was to the North. Our fortunes fell when Shirzai was removed as Governor from Kandahar and moved North.
This is not a shared power-broker deal. This was a muscle move to emplant Karzai's younger brother to take over predominance over Kandahar City. While there have been some pay-offs to avoid civil war, Karzai used his control over the Tajik ANA to ensure Shirzai knew his place.

As to my original comment, AWK doesn't count as either a legitimate or effective counter to the Taliban. Shirzai was. And that is, IMHO, why things went to crap in the South.