As the American military prepares to possibly send in more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, ISIS carried out a deadly attack and devastating attack on a Shia Mosque in the capital city of Kabul. Children and police are being reported as some of the victims in this vicious attack perpetrated by four gunmen. There will be more attacks coming as the fighting season in the Hindu Kush winds down for the coming winter. The United States, NATO and its coalition partners have a very difficult job in the coming months, but it will not be on the battlefield.
The morale of Afghan forces is the biggest challenge that U.S. forces will have to deal with because the Taliban, ISIS and AL QAEDA combined cannot defeat ISAF on the battlefield. But they know this, and the targets of their aggression continue to be Afghan forces, which have been hemorrhaging for years. If the United States and its allies want to be victorious in Afghanistan, it will have to be a long and sustained fight with Afghan forces leading the charge. But they need modern weapons, more training, and most importantly, support for the families of the fallen, as well as financial aid for its disabled veterans.
I befriended a young NDS soldier, Sgt Hakim Arezu, in Kabul who had both legs blown off below the knees in an IED explosion. He and his fellow disabled veterans have a bleak future if the international community does not come to their aid. Afghanistan cannot pay for all the medical bills and future needs of its wounded soldiers without international assistance. If the young men of fighting age see that their sacrifice for the nation will not help them, then will they continue to sign up, fight, die, or even worse, live to be disabled in a country that cannot support disabled veterans?