The Taliban's Achilles Heel

Most news reports about the war-like exploits of the Taliban relate how groups of them travel about Afghanistan in pickup trucks, sedans and SUVs with guns and mounted weapons like machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. Such vehicles are also the common means of delivery of bombs by suicide operators. The Taliban is also said to be ubiquitous in the population and difficult to locate, hence difficult to engage militarily and to destroy them.

The presence of pickup trucks, sedans and SUVs in a rural community would indicate the possible presence of Taliban members. A strategy to impair the ability of the Taliban to conduct operations in the countryside would be to simply ban the use of pickup trucks, sedans and SUVs and destroy by aerial attack any pickup trucks, sedans and SUVs operating along roads or trails. The control of these vehicles would make Taliban members march like soldiers of olden days, severely limiting their range and speed of operation. Besides reducing their ability to operate militarily, banning pickup trucks, sedans and SUVs would probably reduce their ability to recruit. Concealment of a vehicle by garaging or camouflaging it would not matter, as the vehicle would only be a target when used. It would be back to the donkey cart for the Afghan farmer for local transport.

It would be difficult for replacement vehicles to be smuggled into Afghanistan, because control points could be established along the sparse road system's few border crossings. Collateral damage in the form of civilian deaths could be diminished by announcing that any vehicle operating on a roadway or trail would be a target of opportunity and treated accordingly. Let the rider beware. Legitimate vehicular transport of people and goods could be accomplished by government operated or leased bus transport and trucking services. Night time operations could be countered by use of infra-red vision equipment and heat-seeking missiles. Essentially, the plan is to cover Afghanistan with a no-drive zone, much as Iraq was restricted by a no-fly zone.

If there is going to be an all-out effort to vanquish the Taliban, I think it should begin by denying them motor transport.

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