A Taliban win? Complete and utter tosh, people, believe what you will...
My bold and underline added in this recent press release:
ISAF has transitioned to Op RESOLUTE SUPPORT from its previous mission. ISAF’s original mandate was to assist the newly-established Afghan Transitional Authority in and around Kabul. The scope and scale of ISAF’s mission grew as the Coalition added Provincial Reconstruction Teams and took on the responsibility to provide security while Afghan security forces were growing in strength. A critical function throughout the effort was the mentoring and training of Afghan forces. ISAF’s lasting legacy, accomplished with Afghan partners, was the establishment of a 350,000-strong security force, which today is fully responsible for security in Afghanistan. During the course of the 2014 fighting season, the ANSF prevented the Taliban from disrupting national elections allowing more than seven million Afghans to exercise their right to vote. This led to the establishment of the Afghan National Unity Government, which marked the first peaceful democratic transition of power in Afghan history.
Basic measurements of progress across all major sectors of society have shown improvement: life expectancy is rising; mobile communication technology is expanding; an independent media corps is flourishing; and school enrollment is up from one to well over seven million children in the past decade with one third being females. This was inconceivable 13 years ago
“Today marks an end of an era and the beginning of a new one. RESOLUTE SUPPORT will serve as the bedrock of our enduring partnership with Afghanistan” said Resolute Support Commander, U.S. Army General John F. Campbell.
The RESOLUTE SUPPORT mission will consist of more than 12,500 troops focused on building Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) sustainability. 28 NATO Allies and 14 partner nations will contribute to the mission in different ways.
“Now is the time to write the next chapter in our story,” said General Hans-Lothar Domrose, Joint Force Command Brunssum Commander, referring to the launch of Resolute Support.
“We need your help to build the systems necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of our forces,” said Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan’s National Security Advisor. “This is a formidable challenge for any modern army and police force.”
The international community continues to pledge support and financial commitment to help foster an Afghan Decade of Transformation. These efforts will be undertaken with the leadership of President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. Both leaders have reinforced their pledges for transparency and accountability.
As the ceremony concluded, General Campbell gave his final thoughts and assessment on the progress made by Afghan and international partners.
“Together, we have lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future. We’re very proud of our relationship - a relationship built on trust, friendship, and shared interests. That trust and a common vision for a stable, secure, and unified Afghanistan fills me with confidence that we’ll continue to be successful. The road before us remains challenging, but we will triumph.”
As I have opined before we have had at worst a "score draw" with the Taliban and as I have also opined on another thread, I don't believe there is ever a total 'victory' or 'peace' just a pause from conflict over different beliefs; we need to look further than the ends of our noses! How many times have nations or religions been to war with the same old enemies? The only true and full victory is total annihilation of the other side - no survivors. That is never going to happen unless total war happens and the 'gloves come off' completely. Otherwise, it is a skirmish every 10, 20, 50 or 100 years or so before the next one breaks out. Just look at the Falklands - victory declared on Argentinian surrender in 1982, until we get the latest bunch of loons in power in South America and then the sabre starts to rattle again (luckily they are more skint than we are at present!).
So is it a:
Taliban win? No
ISAF win? No
Afghan people win? So far, if you count lifestyle improvements and the ability to educate. However, with idiots with beliefs like Boko Haram around, then even education is becoming an agenda item!
Finally, this is not the time to be mawkish and reflective of those that fell in conflict and think "was it all worth it?". It's not finished yet; indeed it might never be. Furthermore, the numbers that the press are so keen to quote never really reflect the true cost so far - some that died did so in accidents that could well have happened outside of HERRICK and then the critically injured in combat are so readily ignored. As ever, it is all 'spin' designed to alight arguments between the sides and sell the newspaper's articles that releases them.
LJ