Part 1 of 2: Taliban or rather Haqqani cosplay
2. The Taliban obviously aren’t a monolithic bloc, and as others have described, all of the major Taliban players are jockeying for position and power right now — sources suggest that Afghanistan has 14 primary factions ruling different regions (similar to the Philippines where 180+ families rule the country). This may make any form of central government challenging, which is not to say that this cosplay group are not useful to the Quetta Shura, the western and northern Taliban groups, as the collective Taliban leadership — these elite are useful like Saddam’s Republican Guard (to ensure regime loyalist forces have an edge).
3. It is NOT what they wear that is important. Who do they report to? Their faction’s backers have money — follow the money and it will start to make sense.
4. Special forces are only really special when they have air support and C4SIR to achieve their mission. They have fought for years. But what are the missions these Haqqani cosplayers can do without the necessary support elements?
5. The Haqqanis, showed up late, and look like they just got back from a mission to kill Bin Laden, when they are actually in bed with his replacement. They are going to control the future revenue from the airport — if Turkey agrees to provide the air traffic control and they provide the muscle to fight off ISK attacks. More importantly, they are winning the internal Taliban revenue and arms race to form the richest group of core loyalists — the winners will eventually rule other factions through fear.
1. Haqqani cosplay, badly needed to deter other local groups who seek to displace the Taliban in power — the groups that will fight the Taliban in the days ahead are far worse than the Taliban in ideology and murderous intent — an evolution we have seen in Syria and Iraq at the height of ISIS in power.
2. The Taliban obviously aren’t a monolithic bloc, and as others have described, all of the major Taliban players are jockeying for position and power right now — sources suggest that Afghanistan has 14 primary factions ruling different regions (similar to the Philippines where 180+ families rule the country). This may make any form of central government challenging, which is not to say that this cosplay group are not useful to the Quetta Shura, the western and northern Taliban groups, as the collective Taliban leadership — these elite are useful like Saddam’s Republican Guard (to ensure regime loyalist forces have an edge).
3. It is NOT what they wear that is important. Who do they report to? Their faction’s backers have money — follow the money and it will start to make sense.
4. Special forces are only really special when they have air support and C4SIR to achieve their mission. They have fought for years. But what are the missions these Haqqani cosplayers can do without the necessary support elements?
5. The Haqqanis, showed up late, and look like they just got back from a mission to kill Bin Laden, when they are actually in bed with his replacement. They are going to control the future revenue from the airport — if Turkey agrees to provide the air traffic control and they provide the muscle to fight off ISK attacks. More importantly, they are winning the internal Taliban revenue and arms race to form the richest group of core loyalists — the winners will eventually rule other factions through fear.
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