Pakistan struck Kabul overnight and declared open war against an opponent with no air force, no tanks — yet, as russia-Ukraine war has shown, predicting how fight between mismatched opponents ends has proved far harder than reading balance sheet suggests
I know a country that has the biggest, most expensive military in the world and still lost a war in Afghanistan…
“Yet despite Pakistan’s formidable military strength and technology, against Afghanistan it may not be enough. The terrain, cross-border tribal networks, and the costs of prolonged occupation have historically prevented decisive outcomes, lessons learned by Soviet and American troops over the past half-century. For now, Islamabad holds every conventional advantage. What the coming weeks will show remains to be seen, but one thing is already clear: the World got new bleeding wound.“ (emphasis mine)
Glad this was put in at the end cause that’s a pretty important thing to remember.
If they aren’t trying to hold it, winning a war becomes pretty realistic goal. taliban that can’t enforce their rules beyond few villages isn’t a threat. Like you can’t actually fight with just guns and taliban isn’t known for their air-force or artillery or armor (or anything really except being regarded religious nuts).