Expeditionary Eagles: Outmaneuvering the Taliban

Drugs have played a greater role in the Afghan War than most Americans dare to believe. One of the oldest drug cartels in the region--the Haqqani Network--has been responsible for many of the most visible Kabul attacks. With white heroin now flooding America, one has to come up with a better defense strategy for the place growing 90% of the poppies. Only with less smuggling of morphine bricks out and ordnance pieces in, can the problem be solved. All traffic along the 14 entrance highways must be more closely inspected to curtail their movement. No amount of commando raiding or standoff bombardment is going to lessen their flow. Nor will a Taliban-inclusive coalition government. During the Soviet-Afghan War, it was the Pak Army controlling all trucking into Afghanistan, and Pak Intel. using ill-gotten funding. Whoever is controlling those trucks now may be facilitating the smuggling (like IR-painting the authorized trucks and then shipping whatever they want). Herein lies a detailed study of Pakistan's drug and militant madrasa networks. Also described is how a lone U.S. squad could--without a single artillery round or drone missile--rely on deception to defend a roadside outpost against hundreds of attacking narco-insurgents.