The Afghan Way of War

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If the world intends to rid itself of that movement and the lethal vision it promotes, the U.S. will have to rip out its heart--by hunting down the Taliban in the caves and redoubts of southern Afghanistan, where the Pentagon believes Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's leaders have taken refuge. Even if they continue to roll back the Taliban in the north, the Afghan rebels won't be of much help in Kandahar. "The Northern Alliance can never control the whole of Afghanistan," says Dostum's aide. "We have no following in the south." That means only a U.S.-led force--made up of special-ops commandos, conventional troops or both--will be able to finish the job. To succeed, these soldiers will need to school themselves in the Afghan way of war. Because if they don't, someone will do it for them.

--Reported by Hannah Beech/Khoja Bahauddin, Anthony Davis/Jabal-us-Seraj, Michael Fathers/Islamabad, Terry McCarthy/Dasht-i-Qaleh, Alex Perry/Termez and Mark Thompson and Douglas Waller/Washington