Taking One For The Taliban Team -- Losing Its Appeal

According to the New York Times there is a growing rift between midlevel Taliban leaders who do the fighting and dying in Afghanistan and the higher ups who issue the orders from their sanctuaries in Pakistan. Secure across the border, and tightly controlled by Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies, the top Taliban leadership remains uncompromising. At the urging of their protectors in Pakistan, Taliban members say, they continue to push midlevel Taliban commanders back across the border to carry on the insurgency, which extends Pakistan’s influence in southern Afghanistan. The midlevel commanders have little choice but to comply, as they also depend on sanctuaries in Pakistan, where they maintain their families, say residents in Kandahar who know the Taliban well. The Taliban commander said in his interview that the field commanders would obey their orders to resume the fight, however reluctant they might be. Retired General Jack Keane who recently returned from Afghanistan appeared on Fox News yesterday offering an encouraging assessment of conditions in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

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[home buyer]

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[Jane]

I saw that interview as well and was really surprised by his optimism. It certainly is a long time in coming.