In Council on Foreign Relations, Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor of CFR.org, interviews Max Boot, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, CFR. Boot sums up the Marjah offensive as US troops ‘trying to take out probably the biggest remaining Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province, which has been a safe haven not only for insurgents but also for drug dealers.’

The US Marines, along with foreign and Afghan forces, seem to be succeeding in their ‘goal of regaining control from the Taliban and establishing a government there.’ Or so they think.

CFR’s national security expert believes that ‘the goal of the operation is not primarily to kill a bunch of bad guys. If that had been the goal they would have disguised the operation so that it would have been more of a surprise. But what they did was to publicize it well in advance. That gave civilians a chance to get out of the line of fire, but it also let the Taliban escape if they wanted to. The attitude of the military planners was that they didn’t care if the Taliban escaped. They wanted to grab hold of the populated area and keep it from being used as a Taliban stronghold in the future. The key now is to hold on to it.’

The US war in Afghanistan is really less about the Taliban than it is of taking control of the country. The battle is over the minds of the Afghan population. It is a war of perception, hence the need to revise the military strategy in the area. The ultimate goal is for the coalition forces and the government of Afghanistan to be able to convince the ordinary Afghans that siding with the government is a better alternative than whatever association they have with the Taliban as well as the support they give the insurgents.

This is a losing battle, of course. The Taliban have been perceived as actually helping the people with livelihood via a flourishing drug trade. For a hungry and impoverished population, this is definitely a better option than siding with a corrupt government that succeeds in flattening the country with hunger and deprivation.

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