Taliban fighters with their weapons in Afghanistan. Reuters file
Hizbullah Khan, The Independent: The Taliban has failed to recapture Afghanistan after 17 years of war – and this is why
It isn’t surprising that a nationwide poll in 2015 found that 92 per cent of Afghans supported the Kabul government and only 4 per cent favoured the Taliban.
The Taliban has refused peace talks for years, hoping that one day it will capture Kabul, remove a democratic government, and form an extreme regime in the country as they did in 1996. But Afghanistan is stronger today than it was back then: at that time the institutions were entirely destroyed during the civil war and there was no army. But now they are functional, with 314,000 Afghan army and police as well as 22,000 foreign troops.
The Taliban is still able to conduct high-profile attacks in Kabul and capture some parts of other cities. But it cannot be kept in one area of the city for long while ordinary people as well as its own members are being affected.
Since 2003, the Taliban has continuously striven to attack various cities in order to establish a base from which it can easily maximise its power throughout the rest of the country – but it has yet to succeed.
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WNU Editor: There are many reasons why the Taliban have failed to drive out the Afghan government and its allies from the country, not being embraced by a majority of Afghans is certainly one of them. The chaos and mayhem that they cause has also not endeared them with many supporters. Unfortunately, there are ten of thousands who do support them, and this war is going to last a long time because of them.
