Afghan forces pushing back Taliban in some areas including Maymana, Faryab and Mazare Sharif. There are also pockets of resistance and counter operations ongoing in Farah province, Shibirghan and Kapisa province.
Airstrikes on Taliban targets are also intensifying.
The US is deploying the AC-130J Ghostrider to Afghanistan. This thing is equipped with autocanons, gattling guns & howitzers all aimed at the ground with satellite guidance. It can also carry gliding bombs, hellfire missiles, basically anything you can imagine. 42,000 lbs of payload.
In an uncontested airspace, it's destructive power cannot be underestimated. Watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVslfOqh0go
At this point a common Taliban tactic seems to be to allow Afghan forces to leave if they simply put down their arms or in some cases stop fighting and withdraw from the area. In some cases Afghan troops retreat in huge convoys with dozens of trucks and weapons intact.
Some might see this as an intelligent way to quickly gain territory with minimal effort by the Taliban, but the issue is that out of thousands of these retreating Afghan troops, some of them will inevitably regroup and fight again another day.
The fact that the Taliban are not capturing these troops shows that they have a limited capacity. They're obviously trying to deal a psychological death blow to the Afghan army, causing mass panic and confusion thereby crippling their morale.
This paves the way for more quick victories. Yet at the same time this could backfire at some point if the Taliban over expand too quickly. Taking territory is one thing, but holding onto territory and successfully administering the territory is a different matter entirely.
Now that the Taliban are out in the open and no longer hiding in the shadows, it will be much easier for the Afghan and American airforces to target them with greater consistency.
At the same time, the Taliban will need to provide basic services to the areas which they have recently captured. To administer these areas the Taliban must establish various bases of operations and state institutions.
Essentially, to run Afghanistan, the Taliban will have to settle down and transition from a paramilitary, guerilla force into the role of government and security provider. By default this will create countless fixed targets that can then easily be destroyed. This is basically what happened in 2001 when the US easily toppled the Taliban from power.
A few years ago the momentum of ISIS in Iraq and Syria seemed unstoppable. Much like the Taliban is doing today in Afghanistan, ISIS quickly seized large swathes of territory and seemingly overcame all the odds, defeating larger and better equipped armies.
However in the end, coordinated resistance and the airstrikes took their toll and ISIS collapsed . The Taliban are only human and therefore can reach a breaking point. At the same time all of the equipment that the Taliban are seizing also presents a dilemma.
Using the Humvees and other equipment is tempting but realistically, without access to proper parts or maintenance, such equipment won't last for very long. The equipment also makes the Taliban less stealthy and easier targets for airstrikes.
If the current trend continues, with large cities mostly holding out and various strongholds constantly repelling attacks while other areas constantly switch hands, then it would seem as if the conflict is turning into a protracted civil war.
In the short term, gaining all of this new territory might be tempting but in the long run, if the Taliban end up being locked in a bloody stalemate and constantly targeted by airstrikes, they may end up in a position where they regret not taking negotiations for a peaceful settlement more seriously.
www.mashreghnews.ir
