Hi Art,
Let me begin by stating that I agree with your views on most part....
<<<there must be a complete isolation of the Taliban, as long as they refuse to hand over the goods. That means no trade, no imports, no exports, no water, electricity; and more important, no phone/fax service, and no travel in or out, including no flights into or out of the country. Isolating the terrorists and their sympathizers creates communication problems in contacting outside cells>>>
This part is what I have trouble with. The entire population of the Middle East favours and sides with Afghanistan, never mind what their governments say or do. This sympathy makes it extremely difficult to implement the isolation strategy. Bear in mind that Iraq/Kuwait crisis was different in the sense that the Moslem states were divided there, and that helped achieve a fair amount of isolation for Iraq, not total though coz Jordon tried but failed. In this case, a very large %age of the Arab population would feel they are fighting a common 'enemy'.....and IMO would provide aid to Taliban surruptiously, making the quaranntine strategy ineffective.
Taliban is a very different breed than the average Arabs. They are the warrior breed. They are not even Arabs, being of Pushto and Pathaan descent. To club them with Arabs would be a mistake. They are much more stubborn, resiliant and intelligent than an average Arab. IMO, they would prefer to die hungry, fighting rather then bear the indignity of surrender. It is their creed, and it would be a mistake to ignore this difference. And besides, they have already shown a total lack of concern for their public......so I am not sure isolation would be a good enough strategy.
Besides, it will be hard to maintain a coalition support for 2 or 3 years. Eventually the Moslem states are going to weasle out, even politically.
I presume infiltration, however hard to achieve, would be the only solution. SWAT teams targetted at removal of the taliban brass. I doubt if anything else would work for the people, for the region.
BWDIK ? |
