Dynamics of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Northern Afghanistan

Description

After the quick downfall of the Taliban regime in 2001, few feared an all-out comeback of the defeated warriors. Northern Afghanistan, far from the Pashtun heartlands of the Taliban movement,
seemed particularly unconcerned. Even so, after a long period of infiltration, recruitment and buildup, the insurgency spread to more and more parts of the Afghan North where it developed some
unique features. To understand the ongoing fight in Northern Afghanistan, it has to be seen in the
context of now more than 30 years of conflict, with some of the causes rooted in previous generations.