By Omar Sadr, Strategy Bridge: “...the government of Afghanistan and the countries involved in the mission of the International Security Assistance Force not only failed to employ these tools in their information operations efforts (if, indeed, they could have done so), but they also remained largely unaware of the importance of Taliban’s chants.”
The Afghan Taliban’s Increasingly Lethal Insurgency
From The Cipher Brief: “Violence once again grips Afghanistan, with the Taliban, the Islamic State and other terror groups carrying out deadly attacks and kidnappings across the country.”
It Is Time for Change in Afghanistan
By Donald C. Bolduc, Small Wars Journal: “Afghanistan is important because it could once again become a safe haven for ISIS, al Qaeda, and many other threat organizations.”
- Both U.S. troops and Afghan Security Forces face near-everyday violence throughout the country. With the Taliban gaining momentum and reasserting control in remote, loosely governed parts of the country, the window for reaching a negotiated peace to end the ongoing conflict is rapidly closing.
- Through persistent violence, the Afghan Taliban has crippled the Afghan government’s ability to exercise authority across the country, paving the way for terrorist organizations and other extremist groups to find safe haven in ungoverned spaces. A third-order effect of the violence has been strained U.S.-Pakistani relations.