Taliban alienate population

Strategy Page:

The Taliban violence in Afghanistan last year did not make the Islamic radicals very popular among the very people they insist they are fighting for. This can be seen from the number of suicide bombers who are being arrested, usually as a result of tips from citizens. During a one week period in early January, eleven suicide bombers were captured around Kandahar, the southern city that is (or, rather, was) the "capital" of the Taliban movement.

A more telling sign is the recent Taliban announcement that they will set up their own schools. First for boys, and then for girls. The Taliban destroyed or damaged over 200 schools last year. The only schools the Taliban will allow are those that emphasize religious studies, and especially instruction in the benefits of dying for Islam. Most parents prefer the more modern approach, where practical subjects dominate the curriculum....

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The Taliban, like al Qaeda use the get them by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow approach to insurgency. It is all about compliance by intimidation. They are discovering the limits of abuse as a weapon of persuasion and they have done something unusual in the history of Afghanistan. They have made foreigners from the west more popular than foreigners from the middle east. What we and our Afghan allies have to do is make sure the Taliban cause remains hopeless.