In that regard, this is not as daunting a task as changing them ideologically; it's a matter of finding out what fills their immediate needs and fulfilling it. But this is really just a form of sustaining poverty like we do here in this country. You can't win because you can't keep it up - the cost of this, along with other nations [and there are plenty] is more than this country can afford.
Eventually, someone - another country/group - is going to come along when our support slacks and get put farther down on that hate list than us. And, the cycle starts again.
This is generally true. Think about it a minute though, even if you have traveled a great deal how many people do you really know enough to trust? Family? Friends? perhaps a few co-workers and people you've met on your way? You might know a great many people, but how many do you really like?
The Afghani people have known more or less nothing but violence for almost two generations, to say nothing of the fact that they were largely nomadic until recently. The Tribe is really all they know, and its served them well in the past. We all talk about the "Afghani People", but really there is no such thing. Its a collection of about 8 ethnic groups that have more or less been warring with each other since .... well....since humans have been around more or less. They all speak different dialects and largely have their own customs and traditions, so making any kind of government work there is going to be dicy, but they generally want to be a country.
They see everything that the west has, and they want that too, but they have huge problems, lack of water, lack of security, lack of trustworthy leadership, lack of education. Its only very recently that the country achieved 28% literacy, pre war it was more like 11%. Democracy is the wrong form of government for Afghanistan to start with, we made a big mistake when we foisted that on them. Our failures in Afghanistan have been numerous, and the Taliban have been capitalizing thats why we need to start playing to our strength and squash it while we can, while we still have the political will and legal authority.
If we don't, and we pull out in a years time (like everyone is planning on doing), the Taliban are going to take over again, and we'll be back, starting not just at square 1, but we'll actually be fighting our former allies, I can see it so clearly it makes me sick.
So yes, we have a year to win this, to squash the Taliban so thouroughly they have no ability to make war for at least 5-10 years. Need B-52's to wear a groove in the sky over Taliban strongholds and pound them hard for a long time, then move in on foot and secure the ground, sending hunter teams to persue them whereever they go. Then maybe we might have a chance to undo our mistakes and get the hell out