Decapitation strikes continue in Afghanistan

CNN:

Afghan forces and their allies killed 17 suspected militants in an air assault on what they called a "known insurgent safe haven" in Kandahar province, the Afghan government and the U.S. military announced in a joint statement Sunday.

NATO forces in Afghanistan also announced Sunday they had killed a senior Taliban commander they identified as Mullah Asad.

Mullah Asad died November 19 in what the International Security Assistance Force called a targeted operation. ISAF said it had confirmed his death on Sunday.

ISAF said he was a senior Taliban operational commander for southern Helmand linked to attacks on Afghan army targets.

"The death of Mullah Asad will have a significant effect on the Taliban's ability to conduct operations," ISAF spokesperson Brigadier General Richard Blanchette said.

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The continuous decapitation of Taliban leadership will eventually degrade the enemy's ability to organize effective strikes and at some point will effect the willingness of others to assume leadership positions. It will become an opportunity that many will pass on.

In some ways this strategy is similar to Operation Phoenix in Vietnam which destroyed much of the Vietcong leadership. The success of the program also revealed that the VC were not the driving force behind the war. Once the ruse was revealed however, it was too late for the South Vietnamese to prepare for a combat persisting direct attack from the communist north.

The operation in Kandahar is similar to several successful operations in Iraq where a cell if destroyed and the weapons are captured or also destroyed. The cumulative effects of these operations eventually defeated the enemy in Iraq and will defeat the enemy in Afghanistan.