Conceptual failure, the Taliban's parallel hierarchies, and America's strategic defeat in Afghanistan

Shivan Mahendrarajah

Small Wars and Insurgencies, 2014, vol. 25, issue 1, 91-121

Abstract: ISAF exists to protect the Afghan constitutional model. This strategic objective will be defeated because the GIRoA model has a conceptual flaw that renders it incapable of delivering governance at the local level (Tier IV). This fatal flaw has enabled the Taliban, by developing parallel hierarchies, to displace GIRoA and establish itself in southern locales as the political authority. The Taliban are fighting a revolutionary war, a Maoist displacement strategy that uses guerrilla tactics to advance a political program. Petraeus and McChrystal failed to recognize the character of war, and believed the Taliban are pursuing an exhaustion strategy. They failed to devise a counter-RW strategy. The ‘Surge’ was doomed ab initio.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2014.893957

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