The Taliban at War

Abstract

How does the Taliban wage war? How has its war changed over time? Firstly, the movement’s extraordinary military operation relies on financial backing. This volume analyses such funding. The Taliban’s external sources of support include foreign governments and non-state groups, both of which have affected the Taliban’s military campaigns and internal politics. Secondly, this is the first full-length study of the Taliban to acknowledge and discuss in detail the movement’s polycentric character. Here not only the Quetta Shura, but also the Haqqani Network and the Taliban’s other centers of power, are afforded the attention they deserve. The Taliban at War is based on extensive field research, including hundreds of interviews with Taliban members at all levels of the organization, community elders in Taliban-controlled areas, and other sources. It covers the Taliban insurgency from its first manifestations in 2002 up to the end of 2015. The five-month Battle of Kunduz epitomized the ongoing transition of the Taliban from an insurgent group to a more conventional military force, intent on fighting a protracted civil war. In this latest book, renowned Afghanistan expert Antonio Giustozzi rounds off his twenty years of studying the Taliban with an authoritative sitrep detailing the evolution of its formidable military machine.

Security Transitions

“…In 2018, a US official suggested estimating Taliban troop levels is a "fool's errand." 3 Assessing Taliban strength is also complicated by a dearth of credible intelligence about Taliban resources (Giustozzi, 2019). Anticipating what weaponry and force projection the Taliban could deploy in a given fighting season was challenging as the sources of Taliban taxation were varied and difficult to monitor and assess in real time (Buddenberg and Byrd, 2006;Peters, 2009;Mansfield, 2016).…”

An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtuns, the Taliban and the State

“…This must be set against the known splits within the Taliban, for example, the past rivalry between the Quetta and Peshawar leadership councils. 58 The radical and systematic increase in the status and power of the previously lowly and often despised village mullah is in Pashtun terms the most truly revolutionary element in Taliban history. 59 The Taliban has fought against the US and the Kabul state for two decades in the face of casualties that would have shattered the morale and recruitment of almost any other army.…”

“…The Vietnamese communists are the only parallel I can think of -and indeed, the Taliban may have learned the importance of discipline and organisation indirectly from communism. 60 There are provinces in Afghanistan where five Taliban governors in a row have been killed -and yet a new volunteer for the position has always stepped forward. This marks a striking contrast with all previous religiously inspired Pashtun tribal uprisings, which grew rapidly but also collapsed quickly after the first major defeat.…”

Opportunity Structures, Rebel Governance, and Disputed Leadership: The Taliban’s Upsurge in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, 2011–2015

“…In parallel, the increased military pressure of the international forces in South Afghanistan also pushed the Taliban to move a larger part of its assets North. 44 For the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the North was of increased strategic importance by 2008-2009. 45 Because its convoys from Pakistan were severely targeted, the Northern supply route for international troop contributions (through the Central Asian republics) started to attract more attention.…”

“…These phases of recruitment can be observed all over the north: the infiltration of political agents to re-establish contact with old supporters or to identify new ones; the arrival of preachers who invite locals to join jihad; the establishment of small groups of armed men (a mix of returning locals and outsiders) to conduct armed propaganda and the intimidation of hostile elements; and finally, extensive local recruitment and military escalation. 100 Infiltration of Taliban operatives is known to have happened during the upsurge of the Taliban in Kunduz. 101 According to one of my respondents, an undercover Taliban presence existed in Kunduz city even during the times the city was mainly under government control:…”