Word: tribalism
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...began with a specific target. Afghanistan was where Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda lived, harbored by the Islamic extremist Taliban government. But the enemy escaped into Pakistan, and for the past seven years, Afghanistan has been a slow bleed against an array of mostly indigenous narco-jihadi-tribal guerrilla forces that we continue to call the "Taliban." These ragtag bands are funded by opium profits and led by assorted religious extremists and druglords, many of whom have safe havens in Pakistan...
...that. The Taliban and al-Qaeda can't base themselves in Afghanistan if something resembling a stable, secure nation-state exists there. But the mission was also historically implausible: Afghanistan has never had a strong central government. It has been governed for thousands of years by local and regional tribal coalitions. The tribes have often been at one another's throats - a good part of the current "Taliban" uprising is nothing more than standard tribal rivalries juiced by Western arms and opium profits - except when foreigners have invaded the area, in which case the Afghans have united and slowly humiliated...
...fraction of what General David McKiernan, head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has said that he needs to successfully conduct the war. Meanwhile, allied forces have been forced to rely on local militia leaders for intelligence gathering, delivery of supplies and to better understand the country's southern tribal networks. In the north, where the Uzbek and Tajik warlords' historic hatred of the Pashtun-dominated Taliban has maintained a stability that has so far been unattainable elsewhere, both national and coalition leaders are loathe to upset the balance by pushing for prosecution. One former NATO official in Afghanistan compares...
Before the attacks on Mumbai, the U.S. had been eager to see a reduction of Indo-Pakistani tensions in the hope--openly voiced by President-elect Barack Obama--that such changes would free Pakistan to conduct more effective counterinsurgency operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in its northwestern tribal areas. Washington fears that Indo-Pakistani rivalry will make its own task in Afghanistan more difficult. Obama therefore called a rapprochement between India and Pakistan a key objective of U.S. foreign policy. But he will find few takers in India for continuing a peace process with a government that does...
...missile strikes on Taliban suspects in the tribal areas have escalated Pakistani hostility to the war on terror, and opposition parties are none too happy about the prospect of their government cooperating with India over the Mumbai massacre. Many Pakistanis see any move to accede to India's public demands as an unwarranted admission of guilt. And any large-scale move against Pakistan-based militants could bring a sharp reaction on the streets. Zardari's government is in a particularly precarious position now that it has been forced to seek an International Monetary Fund bailout to avoid bankruptcy - the conditions...