The resurgent Taliban and Islamist movement in Afghanistan should come as no surprise to anyone who has been semi-conscious, not on vacation, and keeping half and eye on on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The situation there has never been under control, the 1600 Crew has shamefully neglected the puppet government it installed, the US Forces it left there, and has forgone any semblance of caring about bringing the country forward from the 12th Century conditions it found after the insta-conquest in 2001.

The Taliban has not forgotten its country, and it wants it back. Knowing that the attention of the 1600 Crew is focused on finding a producing oil patch for President Dry-Hole, it has been quietly reconstituting itself, and seems to be in no hurry...kinda like the North Vietnamese, and there's a scary parallel.

Progress in science and technology has a direct impact on battlefields, where missile technology, supreme aircraft, nuclear bombs, chemical weapons and the like have changed the dynamics of fighting over the years.

However, despite such advancements in technology, the human element, notably inspiration, remains a decisive force in any struggle. The Taliban, perhaps, realized this a long time ago, and in their period in power in Afghanistan from 1996-2001 they placed much emphasis on generating the human resources that would be committed to their cause.
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But the left curve from the heart of Chaman takes one to a different world, the world of dozens of tiny villages along the border, which, according to one Akram of the Edhi Welfare Trust Center in Chaman, are too numerous to be counted. Edhi is one of Pakistan's largest non-government organizations.
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Says Akram, "My experiences with the Edhi Center in Chaman have been very bad. It is a completely mullah-dominated society. If you live in Karachi [from where Akram hails] you know that people trust our [Edhi] services all over Pakistan, we give most of the donations we receive to our trust. Here, our experience is different. You will know that fitrana for example, [a fee that all Muslims pay to a needy person before saying their Eid, a major Muslim festival, prayers] comes to 300 rupees [US$5]. Similarly, the number of sacrificial animal skins - cows or goats - comes to seven. Here in Chaman, even these seven skins and the 300 rupees are donated by army officers posted in Chaman, not by the local people. And then these entire donations go to the Islamic seminaries. Here the people say that their lives and deaths are with the mullahs, not with you people."
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The Taliban and their supporting parties in Pakistan have invested everything in this region. At the time that the Taliban faced the crunch in Afghanistan (driven out of power in late 2001 and on the run thereafter) their madrassas around Chaman remained well guarded against ideological impurity and outside influences. This investment has paid off, as now the seminaries that dot both sides of the border provide the best fodder for the resistance movement.
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One can only believe that the Taliban foresaw this development. Maybe not. In any case, the seminaries that now flourish around Chaman have more than adequately filled the void of their city counterparts.

And, crucially, they have in their advantage, because of their history and their remote location, that they are well beyond the writ of either the Pakistani or the Afghan governments. They will thus continue to serve as feeders for the Taliban in Afghanistan for a long time to come.