Arturo Munoz
The joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) / US military campaign that overthrew the Taliban regime by December 2001 was not an invasion. Instead, small CIA teams on the ground supported rebellions by local Afghan enemies of the Taliban. The Agency’s Northern Alliance Liaison Team (NALT) and Team Alpha backed mainly ethnic Tajic and Uzbek rebels in the north, while Teams Echo and Foxtrot supported tribal Pashtun rebels in the south. The Americans provided considerable US military and logistical support, including devastating air strikes against Taliban targets. To provide exact coordinates to the pilots, US Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel were embedded in the CIA teams. Despite the crucial role of air strikes, and aerial resupply, it is important to emphasize that Afghans did the fighting and were led in battle by their own commanders.[2] It is highly unlikely that they could have triumphed without US support, but the US teams on their own could not have won without Afghan fighters. It was an outstanding example an effective partnership with locals, using minimal and low-visibility force to project US power in a foreign conflict.
After the US-sponsored rebellion overthrew the Taliban regime, many of them went into hiding or fled across the border into Pakistan. Certain that God was on their side, the Taliban began a long-term guerrilla warfare campaign to regain power and drive out the foreigners. By 2009, the insurgency was expanding in the countryside, taking control of isolated villages and threatening main roads and population centers. At the same time, it became evident that the original plan to build up the Afghan army to protect all the national territory was not working.
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