Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
COIN is not about defeating the insurgent, COIN is about out competing the insurgent for the support of the populace. If the populace believes that the insurgent is more likely to provide Good Governance, the insurgent is likely to ultimately prevail regardless of how much he is suppressed militarily, how much development is delivered, or how many elections one conducts.
...and this is our fundamental disagreement. Support flows from power. Not the other way around. The populace support who has the power. Power does not come from the populace. To get power over them, you just have to terrify them. Insurgents can and do do this. They do not need much if any support to wield this kind of power. Thus the Government should seek out and destroy them. Crushing revolts and rebellions is about killing the competition.
Quote Originally Posted by marct View Post
The Taliban do care about "good governance", but "good" means something totally different from what we would define as "good" (although both Torquemada and Savonarola would probably approve of their actions if not their symbology).
Sure. Even the Nazis thought they were doing something good. No one ever set forth a policy they believe to be immoral of bad. My point is that "the Talian" seek power - and will use all and any means to get it.