Afghanistan’s War – Through the Eyes of the Terrorists

The Obama administration’s new strategy in Afghanistan requires focusing attention on three different aspects: the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, fighting the radical Islamists hiding in Pakistan, and the continuance of troop withdrawal from Iraq.

The United States’ tasks include impeding al-Qaida from developing and carrying out more terrorist attacks on American soil and preventing terrorist organizations and other Islamist groups from influencing vulnerable Muslim states. According to Stratfor, a global intelligence agency, with such difficult tasks, it is vital for the U.S. to evaluate the methods these terrorist groups use to respond to the new challenges.

The methods used will be difficult to assess, especially since these terrorist groups cannot be described as having a command structure with only one point of view. On the contrary, the fragmentation of the terrorist groups represents a strategic necessity that acts as an advantage in maintaining the confidentiality of the operations as well as a mechanism for fighting.

Therefore, since absolute clarity regarding the terrorist’s actions cannot be established, we can try to look at the situation from the perspective of an Islamist activist: How would the world look at the end of 2009? What do we desire to accomplish and what do we do to complete our plans?

In order to give solid answers, we have to remember that al-Qaida was the group to launch a jihad with the sole intention of eliminating the Sunni regimes from the Muslim world. This elimination was intended to happen through revolutions supported by the local population. The support from native populations was meant to arise concurrently with the events following 9/11; an event intended as a demonstration of the U.S.’s vulnerability and of the Sunni political allies supported by the West.

It could be said that, for the terrorists, the result of the last eight years turned out to be disappointing. Not even one Sunni regime was replaced and Muslim governments continue to rely on U.S. support through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These wars have diverted the terrorist group’s attention from organizing attacks in the U.S. and Europe, forcing them to focus attention on local conflicts instead.

However, in order to secure a victory, the terrorist organizations have to find common strategic ground in the form of a complete refusal to engage in confrontations among each other and also against Afghanistan’s allied military forces.

The instauration of peace in the region could be Obama’s greatest argument in retrieving U.S military forces from the region and in leaving the situation under the control of the Afghan army.

Even if it seems paradoxical, the terrorists in Afghanistan are currently in a tougher position than America. The difficulty of such a position derives from the fact that the U.S. does not even have major interests in the region and is confronted with tense opposition from the majority of the American population. The U.S. government realizes that this is a war where diminishing the military pressure in Afghanistan could be the worst solution.