Taliban in Afghanistan

Will Taliban take over in Afghanistan?

After this year the last remaining British and American troops will put out of Afghanistan. From the end of this year Afghanistan will be on its own. No matter how bad things get, no American or British government will come back to help. So once the Afghanistan national forces are left largely to their own devices, will they be able to cope with the challenge? or will the Taliban win the war and control Afghanistan as they did from 1996 to 2001?

Nowadays the Afghan army and police are an impressive body of men who have been thoroughly trained and show a real pride in themselves. Their equipment is first class and their commanders are selected on the basis of ability. They are as different from the feeble, unwilling Afghan soldiers and policeman. The Taliban found it relatively easy to beat the mujahedeen government and they managed to convince sizeable numbers of uncommitted warlords they were going to win, and won them over their side. Today Afghanistan is a different country, there is more and more money around it and it seems altogether more advanced. Corruption is everywhere, especially in government but no one who remembers the disastrous years of Taliban rule, when corruption reached new heights is likely to believe the Taliban will be any better.

As part of the price for the deal, the new president will have to introduce more Islamic practices. But whether the West likes it or not, the Taliban represent an important element in the makeup of Afghanistan. If there is to be any kind of peace, it will be impossible to exclude them altogether. As the withdrawal of British, American and other forces from Afghanistan draws closer, the Taliban and their allies are raising the number of their attacks. Their aims is clearly to give the impression they have driven the foreign troops out.