Cave nukes will be the ONLY solution, shy of expending our Special Forces lives!
Afghan terrain is well suited to tunnel complexes superior to the clay-laterite we encountered in Viet Nam. These were put in place with industrial means, as opposed to manual labor, too.
I'm not a defeatist, I want them to use ground penetrator nukes and do this right, not spill a bunch of our blood rooting them out. We have way too much more that needs to be taken care of elsewhere. We can't be sucked into a long, bloody drawn-out battle of tunnel warfare that kills a bunch of our Special Forces! It would be foolish to expend their lives, when we have the nukes required at our disposal.
On a good note, the ground would contain the blast, making really small yeilds extremely effective. Most of the fallout will stay in the ground, too!
I agree. But do we have the political will to use nukes?
I think the President and his team will only use nukes in response to weapons of mass destruction --
or to save the lives of many thousands of troops that might otherwise be killed.
This may be more pollitically acceptable in the Arab world.
No offense to the guy that has to do it.