If the coalition troops beat up the Taliban, drive them out, and take control of a particular area, then what? If they leave, the Taliban moves back in, and because there is no Afghanistan police/army strong enough to take over control, we're stuck with it. Controlling the whole country would take hundreds of thousands of troops, either ours or theirs.
So the obvious solution is to create an Afghan army/police, strong enough to take control of the territory we win. But building such a force, without a strong/respected central government (which Afghanistan has NEVER had), from a group that's illiterate and loyal to hundreds of different tribal chiefs, is fucking near impossible.
Can you say, rock and a hard place?
