A Chilling Look at the Taliban's Success

By Douglas Farah

In a fascinating find Newsweek has published a nine-page "book of rules" that the Taliban is distributing in its areas of control in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The list itself is not earth-shattering, a list of principles to guide its militants on everything from what _infidels_ can be executed to moving from one unit to another.

But what is shows is that the Taliban leadership has the time and space to fashion such a handbook, something a group cannot do when it is seriously pressed militarily or living primarily on the run.

It also clearly demonstrates a coherent command and control structure, with orders coming down, written permission being needed for specific actions (merging units etc.) and a vertical structure that can impose punishment as well as reward. The duties and sole responsibilities of senior commanders, junior commanders and the supreme commander (Mullah Omar) are laid out quite clearly. My full blog is here.

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