Dilemma

This article is good, all about how difficult it is to move forward strategically in Afghanistan. The US can’t bomb the shit out of the Taliban where they are concentrated, because then the other psychopaths take over, the Northern Alliance. Who apparently are non-Pashtun, the ethnic majority in Afghanistan. That would piss off Pakistan and probably one or more of the four dodgy oligarchical groups jockeying to be put in power following the US intervention. So the USAF is reduced to pussy-footing around, bombing decoys and light non-essential Taliban stuff in the rear. This deadlock is not very good from a tactical point of view, never mind the increasing risk of civilian deaths as military targets behind the front lines grow scarcer and those pilots get itchy trigger fingers.