With the Wnited States having complete air superiority, the Taliban found holding populated lands with an army is next to impossible. Attacking the Taliban in the caves is hard too. So this is where the seige I have been posting about for weeks comes into play. We will suround them with surogate forces and starve them out. The will need to get out and back in with supplies and food. They did so at night using donkeys during the Russian war. We own the night, so that will not likely work.
What remains to be seen is can we effectively seal off resupply. We will need to concentrate the civilian population and limit travel to the mountainous country. If we do so, the Taliban will surrender or starve. This war is not over. But is is going exactly as planned. The key is can the Taliban find a way to be re-supplied. The Taliban thinks that if they can last, we will do a Nam and go home. They will have to kill lots of Americans to do that. They did kill lots of Russians with our help. We are not going to put many Americans on the ground in Afghanistan for them to kill.
Can we successflly run a seige with air power and surrogates on the ground is the prime question left to be answered. Our military says the answer is yes. This winter will tell. I would say the answer is yes. We have good people in charge. You can not compare a Clinton military to a bush military, any more than you could compare an LBJ military to a Reagan Military.
Carter and Clinton appointed and promoted in political people. Reagan and the Bush administrations put in smart people. Political people, in persuint to pleasing the masses usually make stupid, unpractical choices. I'll take smart every time.
I too think the answer is yes. When they fought the ill equipped, and poorly motivated Russian conscripts, they were supplied by the CIA through Pakistan. And also they had a winter "safehaven" there. NOW, the CIA will be using it's every influence and $$$ against them, and Pakistan will no longer be safe, if the Pakis know what's good for them, and I'm sure they do. Plus like you said, "we own the night."
If the Taliban-Al Queada forces expect to exist for weeks or months in cave locations, we may not need to lay siege or worry about resupply. Our infared and heat sensitive survellience should be able to locate any concentrated numbers of the enemy. I saw a report today that pointed out a B-1 bomber could drop up to 27 bunker-buster bombs at once at one target. Each bomb can penetrate 50 to 100 ft. prior to exploding, depending on the conditions of the terrain. We have the 2,000 lb. and 5,000 lb. varieties equipped with precise guidance systems. I don't see how any cave complex could survive such an attack.
If we can find them, we can kill them.