With the renewed focus on the first battleground in the War On Terror, Afghanistan, a reader has correctly suggested that some readers may be less familiar with some of the terrain and locations that often come up in discussions on this site. Other readers will be intimately aware of these areas in question and perhaps even recall the fine talcum dust so prevalent there.
In the fine tradition of military style traditions, I'll begin with the one over the world. (Afghanistan is the green spot.)
Clearly, it is on "the other side of the world," but as we look closer, we can see some of the challenges:
One of the first things to notice is that it is landlocked. Another important point to make are the turmultuous neighbors: Iran, Pakistan, and China. Less obvious in this 2003 map is the old neighbor that was the Soviet Union, now emerging young Nations such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. These young Nations are also plagued with active attempts by Iran to spread islamism as well as attempts by AQ surrogates to overthrow the young governments.
Looking a bit closer, we can see the that the terrain itself is difficult:
But that terrain is not only understated in the overhead map, but it is not the only challenge. The ethnicities are as varied as is the terrain:
Some of the areas that pop up the most are:
Herat, a city and a province on the Iranian border (northwest).
Kandahar: a city and province on the Pakistani border (southeast), which was the Taliban capital.
Helmand: a city and province in the South and heavy in the poppy trade.
Paktia and Paktika Provinces which border Pakistan and are deep in the Pashtun areas from which the Taliban find their base of support. The particularly rugged terrain in this area makes the border difficult to define and hard to defend. Taliban have a tendency to crossover easily.
The Northern Provinces are less volatile than the South and East (areas bordering Pakistan) and are less noted in our reports, partially because Our NATO allies are responsible for these safer regions.
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