Hello and welcome to a reading from The Taliban – Afghanistan’s Most Lethal Insurgent Group, written by Mark Silinsky and published by Praeger, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing in New York, New York. This reading is brought to you by Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. We begin with Chapter One: The Landscape, The People, and Islamism.
"You can occupy it, you can put troops there and keep bombing, but you cannot win." Soviet Lt. Gen. Ruslan Aushev, who was decorated for bravery during the Soviet 1979-89 war
The Land
Afghanistan is a remote and rugged land, protected from modernity by a “mud curtain” of geographic and cultural isolation. As tough as the people of Afghanistan are, the country’s terrain is tough. It is roughly the size of Texas and comprises over 250,000 square miles of diverse geography and climatic zones. Despite its relatively large size, only 12 percent of the land is arable. Vast tracts in southern and western Afghanistan are desert and share geographic traits with the Southern Californian or New Mexican high desert. Other parts of Afghanistan are mountainous, and earthquakes are frequent there.
As historical accounts of invading armies attest, Afghanistan is well-suited to insurgent warfare. The harsh terrain offers a strong tactical advantage to insurgents, who, with their intimate knowledge of the terrain, can command the forbidding mountains and valleys. The deep gorges and valleys, craggy defiles, and the primitive road network, generally aligned with watersheds, are ideal for ambushes and hit-and-run tactics. In the 19th century, the terrain wore down even the strongest British ponies, and in the 20th century, the dirt and rocky roads, mountain rockslides, and generally primitive infrastructure took a toll on sturdily built Soviet and later American all-terrain vehicles. The myriad crevices that hid Afghan partisans in the 19th century gave sanctuary to late-20th-century mujahedin and, now, to their sons. Stinger-clutching mujahedin instilled an often-paralyzing fear in the Soviet Army.
The famed Khyber Pass is draped in ancient, martial folklore. Through its canyons passed the supply trains of Alexander’s armies, which fought for their lives in 327 BCE. Centuries later, the marauding armies of Genghis Khan and, later, the Mughal warriors marched through this 33-mile pass in the Hindu Kush mountain range. Beyond the Khyber Pass, Afghanistan’s heartland and hinterland were battlegrounds of the Afghan Wars. In these wars, British soldiers were at the mercy of Afghan marksmen, who, with their jezails, used the rugged terrain as shields and sanctuary. In the last century, as today, the well-hidden caves and heavily forested northern mountains provided shelter for both Afghan insurgents and the soldiers who pursued them. As with Alexander’s armies, the armies of the British, the Soviets, and Americans would see their transport vehicles bogged down, their soldiers ambushed, and their morale challenged.
For many non-Afghans who have trespassed in northern and northeastern Afghanistan, the Hindu Kush, or “killer of Hindus,” has lived up to its name. It is among the highest mountain ranges in the world, and Mount Nowshak, at 24,557 feet, approaches the climbers’ death zone. It is 10,000 feet higher than the continental U.S.’s highest peak, Mt. Whitney. The bone-chilling cold of Afghanistan’s mountains, particularly at higher elevations, has served as an ally to Afghan insurgents, just as “General Winter” ground down German forces in Moscow and Stalingrad. In sum, Afghanistan’s landscape is Spartan. These factors combine to test the mettle, endurance, and military skills of both Afghan and non-Afghan pro-government forces.
A Brief History
The first Europeans to arrive en masse in Afghanistan were the armies of Alexander the Great. His tenure was brief, but he left a Hellenistic influence that endured for centuries. His troops also left a genetic legacy among the Afghan people, some of whom retain European racial features. Buddhism took root in the mid-sixth century BCE and flourished alongside other religions, including Zoroastrianism. In 698 CE, Islam arrived in Afghanistan to stay, despite repeated challenges. Under successive caliphates, Afghans converted in large numbers to Sunni Islam, which became the dominant religion. Afghanistan was nearly decimated by the Mongols, who struck like lightning in the 13th century. Not all of Afghanistan’s cities were destroyed, but many were devastated and never revived. Most towns west of the Helmand River moldered.
In a fragmented Central Asia, Timur, or Tamerlane, shaped a vast empire in the early 15th Century. From his base in Samarkand, he also became a patron of the Islamic arts. In the next century, Babur captured Kabul from the Mongols and founded the Mughal Empire in India. The Mughals ruled until 1707.
In the 19th century, European leaders vied for supremacy and empire in Central and South Asia. Afghanistan was torn between the ambitions of two expanding empires, the British and the Russians, in the “Great Game.” In this struggle, the Afghans proved themselves fierce fighters. In January 1842, Britain’s Kabul garrison was forced to withdraw to its hard-pressed fort in Jalalabad. The retreating British-Indian units, some 16,000 soldiers and camp followers, were ambushed by Afghans, and only a few, including a wounded doctor, survived to reach Jalalabad. This death march crystallized in the European imagination. In art, Lady Butler’s portrayal of the near-dead Dr. William Brydon, slouching in his saddle as he approached Jalalabad, became iconic. It brought to canvas the enervation and then the annihilation of a once-proud British army.
In response, the British built an "Army of Retribution" in India, smashed through the Khyber Pass, recaptured Kabul, and set the ancient Great Bazaar ablaze. But more British defeats were to come. In July 1880, a British brigade under Brigadier George Burrows was overrun by forces led by the formidable Ayub Khan. This time, however, there was no public call for vengeance, and Parliament decided that retribution would not be worth the estimated cost. Britain was content for Afghanistan to serve as a buffer state during the Anglo-Russian rivalry. In literature, Rudyard Kipling brought the Great Game to life in his novel “Kim.”
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