Which brings me to Brent’s comment. He is mostly right. My exposure to people here is very circumscribed, in part because I can’t convince any units to either go outside the wire or let me tag along with them. I have done nothing close to a rigorous survey of opinions and attitudes — I am limited to talking with the people who feel comfortable talking to a group of American soldiers. The really bad ones, the ones who are more likely to pick up a weapon for something other than money, don’t usually show up to schmooze with the android-looking MRAP passengers.

So this isn’t an assessment, it is just an observation about a teeny tiny corner of the country. But it is also a corner that has become wracked with insecurity over the last two years. That this still hasn’t translated into obvious hostility (at least on a broad scale) strikes me as important.

[As an aside- Indeed, don't humans everywhere engage themselves in the struggle over "money and power" that your friend laments in Kapisa rather than invest in community/public goods? Quite simply this is the collective action problem. It exists everywhere from Nepalese micro-communities to New York City. It is why taxation is not voluntary. I would argue that because the organizations (including States, NGOS and others) involved in development and reconstruction projects (around the world, not just in Afghanistan) neglect this fundamental reality, institutions are established with perverse incentives which inevitably lead to undesirable (or less desirable) outcomes. Anyway...]

Yet, as Herschel Smith observes above, your dichotomy between Taliban/Afghan is far too categorical. And the logic of your argument seems to suggest that unlike the Afghans, the Taliban and those that fundamentally support (as opposed to tolerate) them are irrational actors. Is this really what you mean?

Also, for us to trust the reliability of your assessment (as opposed to the assessment of those sheltered journalists and think tank thinkers) of the life-goals of the average person in Kapisa, we need to know a great deal more about who (not names- but positions) you are talking to, where, with whom present, in what language, for how long you’ve known them, how many people you have talked to… etc.

But …

I think you need to draw the argument a little tighter. If Taliban is set ‘A’ and Afghans is set ‘B’, just because one is a part of set A doesn’t make him part of set B. A does not equal B.

But these sets intersect, and SOME Afghans clearly are Taliban, some 25,000+ of them. Some people are members of both sets A and B.

As for Ralph Peters, I think you need to elaborate. I have never heard him say anything about killing everyone. This might be a pretty unfair representation of his views.

At any rate, stay safe, and keep us informed.

Best, HPS