TY  - BOOK
AU  - JOHNSON Thomas H
AU  - MASON M Chris
TI  - Understanding the Taliban and insurgency in Afghanistan
PY  - 2007///
KW  - AFGHANISTAN
KW  - COUNTERINSURGENCY
KW  - TALIBAN
N2  - Argues that the Taliban is not simply a radical Afghan Islamist movement, but a force that has built on tribal kinships and a charismatic mullah phenomenon to mobilize a rural base of support with reinforcements from Pakistan's border areas. The Taliban are engaged in a classic "war of the flea"  and the U.S. led counterinsurgency is fighting the largely according to the Taliban game plan. As a result the coalition is losing Afghanistan "one Pushtun village at a time". Argues that the United States must change its counterinsurgency strategy and put in extra resources especially for reconstruction. Failure to do so risks losing the war with potentially disastrous consequences for Afghanistan and the rest of the world
ER  -