"While our attention has been diverted by terrorist attacks and the security of the homeland, the war in Afghanistan has taken a decided turn for the worse.
According to the deputy governor of Helmand Province, the Taliban are on the verge of scoring a major victory by taking over the entire region -- a center of opium production and a major population center.
Helmand is considered the Taliban's home province and it was all that British and American troops could do to keep the Taliban in check. But NATO combat operations against the Taliban ended last year, and the Afghan security forces have proven unable to cope with the threat.
[snip]
Corruption, incompetence, low morale, and a lack of faith in the central government have decimated the Afghan army, which is reeling everywhere the Taliban wants to advance...
Afghanistan is not a failed state. For that to happen, it would have had to exist as a state in the first place. It is now, as it has been for hundreds of years, a region dominated by warlords whose shifting allegiances make any kind of national government impossible. Most of the warlords would prefer not to see the Taliban regain power, but are unable to unite to defeat them because of a distrust of other tribes and clans, not to mention a contempt for the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.
We've been urging the Afghan government to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Taliban, but that would be only delaying the inevitable.
Sooner or later, the Taliban is going to be back in power."
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2015/12/20/taliban-on-verge-of-huge-victory-in-afghanistan/?singlepage=true
